Achi news desk-
DENVER – Rick Bowness measured the Winnipeg Jets’ 2-1 deficit in their first-round series, calculated his options and made a series of calculated bets.
The Jets had been outscored 118-77 and outscored 17-11 over three games. They had been pushed around at five-on-five, frustrated by the Colorado Avalanche’s work rate and dominated on special teams. With the pivotal game of Game 4 ahead of him – and the chance to even the series – Bowness made his moves.
With Brenden Dillon injured, Logan Stanley stepped in. The penalty kill was overworked so on Saturday morning AHL call-up Axel Jonsson-Fjallby would get his shot too, while Nikolaj Ehlers and Nino Niederreiter traded spots on the forward lines. Through these changes, Bowness bet that Winnipeg – the best defensive team in the NHL this season – would find a way to play its own game, taking the play to the Avalanche instead play on his heels.
Instead, the Jets were completely dominated in Game 4. They were overmatched, overmatched and outclassed at five-on-five. The Avalanche anticipated in waves, recovering every puck dumped, shooting every chance they got and recovering as many pucks in a row by laying out and battling the Jets.
The dominance was so thorough early that Colorado took four shots on goal in 20 seconds or less – twice – in the first six minutes of the game.
From there, Bowness’ bets were back. Eight minutes into the game, Stanley checked a shoulder, thinking Alex Iafallo would give him an outlet on the left wing boards, and then spun the puck to Zach Parise to set up Artturi Lehkonen’s game-opening goal. Later, Stanley’s pass break partially led to Nate Schmidt’s layup, but his two minor penalties in the second period helped pull the Jets out of the game.
The Avalanche strike first off Casey Mittelstadt’s sweet feed 🤤
Artturi Lehkonen is the beneficiary of the perfect center pass.
🎥 @sportsnetpic.twitter.com/rRRtWTN8V4
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) April 28, 2024
The Jets killed two Stanley penalties and then took two more, giving up two power play goals – Colorado’s fifth and sixth of the series – to put the game out of reach heading into the third period. That’s when Jonsson-Fjallby, who didn’t take a change on the penalty kill, was promoted to the second line – a desperate line shuffle that called for a superior offensive player. To put Jonsson-Fjallby – a player with 23 points in 99 NHL games – in a featured role in a must-win game was to put an exclamation point on a bet that didn’t pan out. Cole Perfetti would not have turned the tide of play on his own but his 19 goals were missed in that moment and again during late power plays with Sean Monahan and Gabriel Vilardi not available for their shifts.
Bowness has said many times that he trains by feel, trusting his gut, and that he is happier to lose coaching his way than to change his approach to the game.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar made changes to Colorado’s prediction — changes he acknowledged The Athletics but he refused to elaborate when asked. Colorado adjusted its forecheck, changing its drop-in strategy, and subsequently dominated Winnipeg on rebounds and puck recoveries. Those two first-period four-hit flurries were the immediate product, helping the Avalanche set a dominant tone in a crucial game.
Winnipeg needed answers for that in Game 4 — answers it didn’t get from its head coach, its power play, its penalty kill or its ability to adapt to Colorado’s relentless pressure. Instead, the Jets got modest changes on the fringes of the roster — bets they’re good enough to come back without sweeping adjustments. Now the Jets are on the brink of elimination and players are calling out Winnipeg’s inability to adapt.
“They made adjustments,” Mark Scheifele said following the 5-1 loss. “We didn’t.”
Scheiele repeated that statement in his answer to a subsequent question and doubled down on his answer when asked by The Athletics.
“There are obvious differences in (Colorado’s) game compared to the regular season,” he said. “They play fast. Their D is moving pucks. They’re moving into areas faster than we are, and it almost seems like it’s almost endless, over and over and we can’t stop that puck. We have to find ways to change that. Obviously they’re a great team, they’ve shown that movement in and out. They fight hard. They make it difficult to get to their net, and we have to change our game a little bit.”
This was an honest expression and an honest dare from the Jets alternate captain who had a long discussion on the ice with Bowness towards the end of Saturday’s practice. The head coach and star center stood together at center ice, with Bowness doing most of the talking during a long meeting of the minds.
“We have to bring a different game on Tuesday,” Scheiele said. “We have to fix some things. We have to change some things. That’s about it.”
Scheifele’s message was backed up by Niederreiter, who led to a roughing penalty in his second period for Colorado’s fourth goal.
“We have to change our game plan. There are some areas we have to change. We have to make sure we don’t feed into their game. I think that’s what’s happening.”
The Athletics Bowness asked why two veteran players were talking about Colorado’s adjustments and Winnipeg’s lack of them.
“Well, the first thing is that you have to stay out of the penalty box and then the penalty killers have to do their job. The second thing is that we have to stop turning the puck over. Again, those things are self-inflicted,” Bowness said.
“Do you want adjustments? Stay out of the box. Control the puck better and go from there.”
Bowness’s passion is palpable. At this stage of his career, his love for the game and his desire to win the Stanley Cup are tremendous motivations. It is quite likely that this series is for him, with an option for the club who will return for the third year of his contract. Bowness is also an emotional person who wears his heart on his sleeve and his frustration flows through the answer to questions about the Winnipeg game.
“For taking penalties? Want to play a three quarter ice game? You’re playing right into their hands,” said Bowness. “Our issues are self-inflicted. You saw us play the right way for 10 minutes in the second half of the first period. You take four penalties, you turn the puck over. That’s just how they want to play. The issues are self-inflicted.”
It must be recognized that Winnipeg’s penalty kick parade was a turning point in the game. The Jets killed two Stanleys but were scored on with Vladislav Namestnikov and then Niederreiter in the penalty box. The Jets were frustrated by some of the calls they received, with Namestnikov’s holding penalty causing confusion, but there are two things to keep in mind. For one, Winnipeg barely had the puck in Game 4, making it difficult for calls to go the other way. Second, Colorado’s special teams have been dominant, with the Jets’ 21st-ranked regular-season penalty kill now clocking in at 60 percent, the fourth-worst rate of the playoffs.
That falls on the execution of the players and on training as well. Bowness has done a lot of work to improve the team’s defensive structure over his two years in Winnipeg – work worth remembering, even as his Game 4 decisions backfired as they did. In a series that has largely been about Colorado’s ability to stay two steps ahead of the Jets on the ice, it seems clear that part of the Avalanche’s advantage comes from Bednar behind the bench.
Even Bowness’ subtle moves – sensible things, like sending Monahan out to draw a number of defensive zone plays for other lines – didn’t work. Monahan went one-for-five (20 percent) in the defensive zone and was one of the biggest misfires on Cale Makar’s highlight reel goal, 3-1, from start to finish. In the third period, when Monahan was hurt after finishing a faceoff on a power play, Iafallo took his place up front – a job that even Perfetti’s biggest critics have to admit he is well suited to. for her The Jets’ power play hit the iron late in the game but was otherwise ineffective, going 0-for-4, failing to take control of the game when Colorado missed an offside challenge on Schmidt’s 1-1 goal.
CALE MAKAR WHAT IS A GOAL 🤯
The Colorado star is a one-man wrecking crew.
🎥 @sportsnetpic.twitter.com/CZXssfzul8
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) April 28, 2024
Dig into the stats and you’ll see that Winnipeg’s two best pairings – Josh Morrissey with Dylan DeMelo and Dylan Samberg with Neal Pionk – finished the game with just over 50 percent of the shot attempts. Stanley and Schmidt were the most serious hit, two left-handers trying to make the most of Colorado’s suffocating speed while veteran right-hander and trade deadline pickup Colin Miller sat out once again.
The Jets are not playing to their strengths. This much is evident in their underwhelming appearance even when they have the puck in transition. They make a lot of unrelated plays, apparently not used to having no time and space at all. Kyle Connor and Monahan each had four shots and Ehlers had three, but the Jets’ lack of offense is mostly a story about not being able to get into the Avalanche zone. When they are there, which is rare, some scoring opportunities present themselves, but Colorado’s secondary scorers are outmatched by Winnipeg’s stars and depth while the Jets’ positioning decisions chip away at a margin that doesn’t exists for mistakes.
In a series that started as a coin flip, the self-inflicted wounds go beyond what happens on the ice.
What about Winnipeg’s resilience, then? What about the pushback Bowness accused the Jets of lacking against Vegas when Winnipeg won Game 1 last year and then lost four straight to end the series? We’ve seen the Jets make great strides this season. We have seen the maturation of Scheiele and the steady leadership, calming down of Adam Lowry and Morrissey helping to stop previous losing runs.
But Winnipeg hasn’t followed a playoff loss with any number of playoff wins since the scrimmage against Calgary in 2020. The Jets have shown a tendency to get pushed out of series instead of coming from up to answers as the games slip away. They have now burned two strong games from Hellebuyck, who was hung out to dry by poor defense and took Bowness out of the game in the third period.
“Too much time in there having to make save after save,” Bowness said. “That’s not on him at all. That’s on the players in front of him.”
The Jets are reeling. Now they must win three games in a row in the face of a relentless Avalanche prediction that has worn them down shift by shift, game by game, and brought them to the brink of elimination. Dillon is day-to-day and Namestnikov could be out, too, after leaving the game in the third period when he was hit in the face by a spike. He was still in a Denver hospital being evaluated after the game.
“The only thing that matters is winning on Tuesday night,” Bowness said. “There’s your pushback: See how hard we’re going. We win on Tuesday, we go from there. That’s all our focus at the moment.”
It sounds good. It’s passionate. It is true. Bowness even said there would be changes to the Game 5 rosters.
What Winnipeg needs most – and what its players say it doesn’t have – is a game plan.
(Photo: Michael Martin / NHLI via Getty Images)
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