3 Takeaways From Jets’ 5-2 Loss Against Avalanche

On this night, Georgiev stopped 28 of the 30 shots thrown his way, while Hellebuyck allowed four goals on 31 shots. Game 1 was a 7-6 shootout and neither goaltender left pleased with their performance. In Hellebuyck’s last six playoff starts, he has a record of 1-5-0, a goals against average of 4.34, and a SV% of .876.

With the series now heading to Denver for Games 3 and 4, Hellebuyck is going to have to be the better goaltender and a difference maker, or the Jets will be climbing a very steep mountain when they return home. Having said that, he is not the only one facing heat in this situation. In both games, the Jets have allowed the Avalanche to rack up far too many high-danger scoring chances, and the defensive structure absolutely has to be better in front of their goaltender going forward.

The Jets’ Second Forward Line Will Have to Produce in Denver

Another aspect of the Jets roster that was seen as an advantage coming into this series was their depth up front. While the third line, led by Adam Lowry, stepped up in Game 1, the second line of Nikolaj Ehlers, Sean Monahan, and Tyler Toffoli has yet to score a goal in the series. With Lowry drawing the majority of the Nathan MacKinnon matchup, and Mark Scheifele drawing the majority of the Casey Mittelstadt matchup, the Jets’ second line is left with a mixed bag in terms of the quality of competition they are facing, which they have yet to take advantage of.

There are plenty of players that need to be better, up and down the lineup, and the players recognize that. The second line in particular is there to provide a secondary scoring punch to the top line, who has scored four even-strength goals through the first two games. Provided we do not see any lineup changes, Rick Bowness will be counting on that Ehlers-Monahan-Toffoli trio to produce heading into Game 3, and if they fail to do so, the Jets could be looking at a 2-1 series deficit after Game 3.

The Jets’ Fourth Line Chipped in for the Second Straight Game

David Gustafsson scored the opening goal for the Jets from the fourth line, alongside Vladislav Namestnikov and Alex Iafallo. That’s now back-to-back games where the Jets’ bottom forward line has scored a goal in the first period. Getting offensive contribution from the bottom-six has been a pleasant sign for the Jets so far in this series, but when the first two takeaways of this article are issues that need to be addressed at the top of the lineup, depth scoring can only take you so far.

It was the first career NHL Playoff goal for the “Gus Bus” who is currently filling in for Morgan Barron (lower-body injury) on that line. This line’s role will undoubtedly get more difficult over the next week, as the ability to control matchups is now in Colorado’s favour. They will have noticeably more shifts against MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar, and those are the minutes that Hellebuyck will have to win if the Jets want to return back home for Game 5 with this series tied at two, or leading it 3-1.