Winnipeg Jets 2016-17: Evaluating games 31-40

After the first 30 games of the season the Jets were sporting a 13-14-3.  In the fourth segment of ten games the Jets have gone 5-5-0 to give them an overall record of 18-19-3 on the season.  Broken down as follows:

Games 1-10:    4-6-0
Games 11-20:  5-3-2
Games 21-30: 4-5-1
Games 31-40: 5-5-0

Goal scoring:

Games 1-10:  Laine (6), Scheifele (5), Wheeler (3), Ehlers (2), Matthias (2),  Myers (2).
Games 11-20: Laine (12), Scheifele (10), Wheeler (6), Lowry (5), Ehlers (4), Dano (3).
Games 21-30: Laine (17), Scheifele (14), Wheeler (8), Lowry (6), Ehlers (4), Copp (4).
Games 31-40: Laine (20), Scheifele (16), Ehlers (12), Wheeler (11), Lowry (7), Little (6).

While Patrik Laine hasn’t been as prolific over this past span of ten games he did manage to score his 20th goal in his 40th game of the season which is slightly impressive for a rookie.  That 20th goal, which was an empty netter, potted the super rookie a nice little bonus of $212,000 according to Jim Toth of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.  Not a bad little bonus.  More importantly for Winnipeg, his linemate Nikolaj Ehlers has finally started to get rewarded for his hard work by finding the back of the net as he had eight goals in his last ten.  We had been using the word snakebit throughout the first 30 games with Ehlers who, despite having plenty of assists, was sitting on just four goals.  Using snakebit would appear to be out of his lexicon after this last segment of games.

Goaltending:

Once again Connor Hellebuyck was given the bulk of the work starting 70% of the games in this block of 10 for the Jets.  His numbers dipped slightly overall as he continues his development.  After both goalies suffered defeats against the Blue Jackets and Islanders the Jets bench boss was less than pleased with his tenders suggesting both had to be better and in the final game of this segment Connor Hellebuyck bounced back and played a really solid game for Winnipeg.

Connor Hellebuyck:
1-10:  2 wins, 3 losses, .914 save %, 2.63 GAA
11-20:  5 wins, 2 losses, .906 save%, 2.55 GAA
21-30: 3 wins, 4 losses, 1 SOL, .911 save %, 2.81 GAA
31-40: 4 wins, 3 losses, .903 save %, 3.01 GAA

Overall: 14 wins, 12 losses, 1 SOL, .908 save %, 2.76 GAA

Michael Hutchinson:
1-10:  2 wins, 3 losses, .906 save %, 3.09 GAA
11-20:  0 wins, 1 loss, 2 OTL, .888 save%, 3.59 GAA
21-30: 1 win, 1 loss, .920 save %, 1.83 GAA
31-40: 1 win, 2 losses, .875%, 3.95GAA

Overall: 4 wins, 7 losses, 2 OTL, .894 save%, 3.18 GAA

Special teams:

This was the Jets worst segment of penalty kill on the season as they allowed the same number of goals against in the 21-30 block but did so in five fewer opportunities for their opponent.  The last three games to close out this block weren’t especially good as they allowed five goals against when a man down.  On the flip side their power play got back some juice as they scored three more goals than they did in the previous block of ten in the same number of chances.  Just as the last three games in this segment saw a boost in special teams goals against, it also saw Winnipeg get four power play goals.

Penalty kill:

Games 1-10:  7/36 (80.56%)
Games 11-10: 5/32 (84.38%)
Games 21-30: 11/41 (73.2%)
Games 31-40: 11/36 (69.4%)

Power play:

Games 1-10:  5/44 (11.4%)
Games 11-20: 6/27 (22.2%)
Games 21-30: 4/29 (13.8%)
Games 31-40: 7/29 (24.1%)

Injuries:

The Jets have gone from a number of significant injuries earlier this season to a relatively healthy bunch.   They are on the cusp (it would seem) of getting Tyler Myers back as he returned to practice in a non-contact uniform prior to game 40 in Tampa.  Marko Dano, on the other end of the spectrum, is out long term with a lower-body injury which can see him out of the lineup for six to nine weeks.