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With playoff series likely upcoming, Jets have an oil problem |
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The Jets and Oilers will meet Wednesday night for the ninth and final time in the regular season. With wins in two of eight so far, the Jets will be happy to not see the Oilers again in the regular season.
That’s until the playoffs of course.
With the Maple Leafs leading the division over the Oilers by seven points entering Wednesday, and the third place Jets leading the Canadiens by six points, a Jets/Oilers first round playoff series is likely.
"You'd like to establish a bit of a game plan that you have confidence going into not just a playoff series but any game. There are some things that our team does really well and some things that Edmonton does really well,” said Blake Wheeler.
“We've yet to do the things that we do really well against Edmonton, which coincides with feeding into the things that they do really well. There are some things we've done all year that have given us success and we just haven't done them against these guys yet.
Five-on-five has been an issue against the Oilers.
In the 390:24 the two have skated against each other five-on-five, the Oilers have outscored the Jets 23-13, out-chanced them 195-177 and have the better of the high-danger scoring chances 71-57.
Part of the Jets struggles against Edmonton has been the inability to slow down Connor McDavid. You’re not going to stop him, that’s just silly to think. But if you can limit his damage, well, now you’re putting yourself in a position to win.
Through eight games against the Jets, McDavid has seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points. Only the Ottawa Senators (21 points in nine games) have allowed more McDavid damage to be done.
"If you won a game and your goaltender had to stop Connor McDavid seven times, you could say 'hey there's our plan.' I don't like that plan," said head coach Paul Maurice.
"We have to get our game right in the next eight (games). It's not even so much now getting the game right for the season, it's getting your game right for the playoffs because it's a different game."
No Jet has seen more five-on-five ice time against McDavid than Mark Scheifele has. It’s clearly a matchup that Oilers’ head coach Dave Tippett will want to continue to take advantage of.
In the 73:58 the two have skated against each other, McDavid’s Oilers have the advantage in:
Shot attempts: 94-48
Shots on goal: 57-29
Scoring chances: 62-21
High-danger scoring chances: 23-8
Goals: 10-1
The key to the Jets success is no secret. They rely on their offensive depth and their reigning Vezina winning goalie Connor Hellebuyck to pave the way, and make up for what they sometimes lack defensively.
However, Hellebuyck has looked nothing like a Vezina caliber goalie against the Oilers, currently sitting with a 4.29 goals-against average and a .870 save percentage.
Hellebuyck was benched for the third period Monday in the Jets 6-1 loss to the Oilers. His benching however, failed to come before McDavid completed the hat trick.
“There’s no easy fix. You’ve just got to go straight through the adversity and straight through the wall and just dig in and work through it,” said Jets forward Andrew Copp.
“If we dig deep, we can kind of revert back to some of the positives we’ve had over the course of the season and kind of trick ourselves into feeling good. I think temporarily shaken, but definitely not broken.”
Despite their struggles against the Oilers, the battle for home-ice in their playoff series is well and alive as the Jets sit just one point back of the Oilers in the division.
The Jets can’t erase a year’s worth of troubles against Edmonton with a win Wednesday, but one could kickstart the confidence they need going into any upcoming playoff series.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger • 
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