Winnipeg Jets 2016-17: Evaluating games 41-50

After the first 40 games of the season the Jets were sporting a 18-19-3 record.  In the fifth segment of ten games the Jets have gone 4-5-1 to give them an overall record of 22-24-4 on the season.  Broken down as follows:

Games 01-10:  4-6-0
Games 11-20:  5-3-2
Games 21-30: 4-5-1
Games 31-40: 5-5-0
Games 41-50: 4-5-1

Goal scoring:

Games 01-10: 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).
Games 41-50: Laine (21), Scheifele (21), Ehlers (17), Wheeler (15), Little (10), Lowry (7).

While Patrik Laine only added one goal during this ten game span that is obviously because he only played one full game and then part of game 42 until a third period hit knocked him out of the game against the Buffalo Sabres.  The Jets desperately needed his goal scoring but did see continued success from Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, Blake Wheeler and perhaps most importantly Bryan Little who continues to produce without the fanfare attached to the others.  Notable for Nikolaj Ehlers is he has now eclipsed his rookie goal total of 15 set last year and was able to do it in 23 fewer games.

Goaltending:

All was looking well early in this block of ten games as the Jets won two of the first three which included solid performances by Connor Hellebuyck who the team started in net for eight straight games.  He was then pulled in back to back games against Montreal and Arizona.  Michael Hutchinson came in in relief but was unable to stop the bleeding so the Jets management did something nobody expected….they called up Ondrej Pavelec who was fresh off a 43 save performance for the Manitoba Moose of the AHL.  Without much time for practice they put the veteran netminder in against Arizona (game 48) and despite giving up a goal on the first shot he faced, managed to get the win in his first NHL start of the season thanks to his team putting up six goals in the game.  He was given another start against St. Louis (game 49) where he not only won but actually broke his own Atlanta/Winnipeg record for most saves in a period when he stopped 25 in the 2nd frame, a record he had previously set in 2009.  What needs to be taken into account for all three Jets goalies is the team defence has had some major lapses during this ten game span which hasn’t done any of the three any favours.

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
41-50: 2 wins, 1 loss, .899 save %, 3.25 GAA

Overall: 16 wins, 13 losses, 1 SOL, .907 save %, 2.82 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 save %, 3.95GAA
41-50: 0 wins, 3 losses, 1 OTL, .895 save %, 3.44 GAA

Overall: 4 wins, 10 losses, 3 OTL, .894 save%, 3.23 GAA

Ondrej Pavelec:
41-50:  2 wins, 1 loss, .907 save%, 3.05 GAA

Overall:  2 wins, 1 loss, .907 save%, 3.05 GAA

Special teams:

Both of these areas have improved in this block of games although the penalty kill still ranks 27th in the NHL and has allowed a goal against in four straight games.  The power play has gotten to be more like it was in the first 20 games of the season and overall has this squad sitting 16th in the NHL.

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%)
Games 31-50: 6/34 (82.4%)

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%)
Games 41-50: 7/32 (21.8%)

Injuries:

Tyler Myers remains the longest day to day in the history of that term (he’s been out since November 11th) and the team’s good health in the previous segment is now a thing of the past.  Patrik Laine suffered a disastrous concussion in game 42 and Ben Chiarot was hurt in a contest against the Habs on January 11th suffering an upper body injury.  The Jets were relatively stable until they lost Drew Stafford to a mystery injury in game 49 vs the Blues and Mathieu Perreault in game 50 against the Ducks courtesy of a Corey Perry slash.

To date this season the Jets have lost 198 man games to injury.