Six pieces in Arizona meant already the 26th victory of a team that no one counted on at the start of the season. In last year’s playoffs, the Canadian club clearly lost 1:4 per match to the later champions from Vegas in the first round, but now it is a hit. “They are not only a good team, but they play probably the best hockey in the NHL,” acknowledged Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny after the 2:6 result.
If someone had a time machine and looked back during the last regular season to this January, they would probably have their mouth wide open for a while. Relations in the cabin were strained at the time, the biggest stars did not want to sign new contracts. It already looked like forward Mark Scheifele and goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck would follow Patrik Laine or Pierre-Luc Dubois, who forced their way out of the club. However, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff managed to sign both of the most important players just before the start of the season, and the entertainment is provided.
“There were some doubts about Scheifele. But he’s a player I really like to watch,” former New Jersey forward Patrik Eliáš told Sport.cz. Twenty-seven-year-old gunner Kyle Connor is out for another month due to a knee injury. “You always notice him on the ice, he has such an infectious joy for the game,” added the Devils legend.
At the same time, some important statistics almost contradict the Jets’ current run. Power-ups? Tenth worst out of 32 teams with just 17.7 percent usage. At least weakened, right? Well no. Success rate 75.2 percent, seventh worst.
But Winnipeg can rely on Hellebuyck for a long time, who in 2015 won bronze for the Americans at the World Championships in Prague and was elected to the All-Star team of the tournament. In the NHL, he quickly ranked among the absolute top. He won the Vezina Trophy in 2020, and at the moment, the 30-year-old native of Michigan is also the biggest favorite for the award for the best goaltender of the season. With 20 wins, an average of 2.27 goals per game and a save success rate of 92.05% per game. After all, the Jets also have the lowest goals-against average (2.38), although they are ninth in goals scored (3.38).
“I’m convinced that this lineup has what it takes to win the Stanley Cup,” Helleybuyck said before the season. Back then it was considered a polite phrase, wishful thinking or a bad joke. But now the Jets have started to be reckoned with. In the 12 seasons since moving from Atlanta, however, Winnipeg has only seen the playoffs six times and won a series just once in the past five years.
That something was wrong in Winnipeg was indicated by the very frequent critical comments of coach Rick Bowness, who did not hesitate to say them publicly, and some supports, led by former captain Blake Wheeler, did not take it well. “It should have stayed behind closed doors,” said the striker, who is already at Rangers.
But Bowness’s ‘disgust’ at the early end in the playoffs is forgotten. “It’s been a few months now. We got over it,” said the 68-year-old coach. “Rick will be strict and fair,” promised GM Cheveldayoff.
Winnipeg is once again being talked about in a positive context. And not as an inhospitable frozen place (it was minus 18 degrees here on Monday) with the highest rate of violent crime of any Canadian city. In June, one of the many jokes about hockey players from Manitoba will no longer be circulating: What do you call the 23 millionaires watching the Stanley Cup finals on TV? Answer: Winnipeg Jets.
2024-01-08 21:27:58
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