Game Notes: August 6, 2020 vs. Calgary Flames

LINK: Game Notes PDF

Stanley Cup Qualifier Series – Game 4

The Winnipeg Jets face a must-win situation in Game 4 of their best-of-five Stanley Cup Qualifier Series Thursday night against the Calgary Flames…Winnipeg dropped a 6-2 decision in Game 3 on Tuesday and trail the series two-games-to-one…If Winnipeg wins on Thursday, the deciding Game 5 is slated for Saturday.

Last Game

August 4 vs CGY – 6-2 L

Jets Scorers: Ehlers (2), Copp (2)
Flames Scorers: Lindholm (2), Backlund (2), Monahan (1), Tkachuk (1), Lucic (1), Gaudreau (2)

Jets Goaltender: Connor Hellebuyck (26 sv, 5 ga)
Flames Goaltender: Cam Talbot (33 sv, 2 ga)

Jets PP: 1-for-2
Jets PK: 1-for-4

Recap: The Jets gave up three power play goals in a 6-2 Game 3 loss to the Flames on Tuesday…Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrew Copp each scored their second goals of the series for the Jets…Connor Hellebuyck stopped 26 shots, including 17 in the first period…Ehlers also led the Jets with six shots, which is a career high for him in a playoff game.

Series Schedule

Facing Elimination
The Jets face elimination on Thursday for the first time in the playoffs…The franchise is 1-4 all-time when facing elimination, including 0-2 when it is the home team…Winnipeg’s only elimination game win was Game 7 against the Nashville Predators in the second round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

First
The Jets have scored the first goal in all three games of the series so far…Winnipeg has outscored Calgary 3-1 in first periods during the series…During the regular season, the Jets tallied the opening goal in 32 of 71 games, going 23-8-1 when scoring first.

Even at Even Strength
The Jets and Flames have both scored four five-on-five in the series…However, Winnipeg has only scored two power play goals, while giving up five power play goals, one shorthanded goal, and two empty net goals to the Flames…The Jets have had 24:07 of power play time in the series, which ranks second in the playoffs, while Calgary is fifth with 21:00…Of the 180 minutes played in the series, 130:08 has been at even strength or roughly 72.3%.

Home Turf
The Jets are the home team in the series for Game 3 and 4…The Jets are 5-13 all-time as the home team in the playoffs, having dropped their past six home playoff contests and losing four of the games by one goal…The Jets went 20-14-3 as the home team during the regular season, which was tied for 11^th best in the NHL.

No Sweep for You
After being swept in the first two playoff series in franchise history, Monday’s win guaranteed the Jets won’t be swept for a third time in this series…Winnipeg’s past four playoff series have gone past the series minimum…The Jets Game 7 win against the Nashville Predators in the second round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs is the only series in franchise history that has gone the distance.

Back in the Dance
The Jets are back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third consecutive season…It is the first time in franchise history the Jets have reached the playoffs in three consecutive seasons and fifth time overall.

Another New Playoff Foe
This is the seventh playoff series in franchise history and the seventh time the Jets face a different opponent…The then-Atlanta Thrashers played the New York Rangers in 2007…The Jets made the playoffs for the first time after relocation in 2015 and met the Anaheim Ducks in the first round…During its run to the 2018 Western Conference Final, Winnipeg played the Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights…Last season, the Jets faced the St. Louis Blues in the first round.

Marching to Victory
The Jets ended the regular season by winning all four of their games in March…Winnipeg outscored their opponents 15-5 in the quartet of contests…Kyle Connor (5G, 1A), Nikolaj Ehlers (2G, 4A), and Blake Wheeler (1G, 5A) each had six points in the four games… It was Winnipeg’s longest winning streak of the season, as the Jets won three games in a row on four other occasions…Winnipeg earned points in a season-high five games twice – Nov. 1-10 and Feb. 1-9…The Jets were supposed to put their four-game winning streak on the line against Calgary when the regular season ended abruptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heritage Classic
The Jets defeated the Flames 2-1 in overtime at the 2019 Tim Hortons Heritage Classic in Regina in October…It was the only meeting between the two clubs in the regular season, as the other two meetings were supposed to occur after the NHL paused the regular season due to the COVID-19 pandemic…Josh Morrissey forced overtime by scoring with 4:11 remaining in the third period on the power play, while Bryan Little netted the overtime-winner 3:04 into the extra session…Winnipeg outshot Calgary 45-30 in the contest.

Alberta Content
Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey was born and raised in Calgary, while forward Adam Lowry grew up in Calgary after being born in St. Louis…Morrissey played minor hockey for the Calgary Royals, while Lowry played for the Calgary Bisons…Forward Mark Letestu hails from Elk River.

Fanning the Flames
The Jets have won their past two regular season games against the Flames…Winnipeg’s last four wins against Calgary have come by a 2-1 score…The Jets are 4-4-0 against the Flames in the past eight regular season meetings and the losing side has been limited to one goal or less in six of the eight contests.

Against Calgary
Blake Wheeler leads the Jets in career scoring against the Flames with 19 points (7G, 19A) in 21 games…Three of Mark Letestu’s five goals against Calgary are shorthanded goals.

Neutral Site
The Jets are 2-2-0 all-time in neutral site games during the regular season…Two of the games were outdoors – 2016 Heritage Classic vs. Edmonton (3-0 L) and 2019 Heritage Classic (2-1 OTW)…The other two games took place in Finland at Hartwell Arena against the Florida Panthers during the 2018-2019 regular season.

Atlanta Roots
The Jets and Flames franchise both originated in Atlanta…Calgary played as the Atlanta Flames from 1972-79, while the Jets were the Atlanta Thrashers from 2000-2011…Neither franchise won a playoff series while being based in Atlanta.

Fearless Leader
Jets head coach Paul Maurice is coaching in the postseason for the eight time in his career…Maurice is 37-46 behind the bench in playoff games, with the highlight of his postseason success coming in 2002 when he coached the Carolina Hurricanes to an appearance the Stanley Cup Final…The nine playoff wins the Jets posted in 2018 is the second most Maurice has had in a playoff run, next to the 2002 season.

Pair of Markers
Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrew Copp lead the Jets with two goals each in the playoffs…It is the first time either of them have scored multiple goals in a playoff run…Ehlers scored on back-to-back days in Game 2 and 3, which is something he’s only done once during his career in the regular season (Jan. 3-4/17).

Minute Munchers
Jets forward Kyle Connor leads all forwards in the playoffs by averaging 23:47 of ice time per game…He was 10^th among NHL forwards during the regular season by averaging 21:05 of ice time per game, highlighted by 27:12 of ice time Dec. 27/19 vs. STL in a 5-4 OTL…Neal Pionk leads Jets defencemen with an average of 23:11 of ice time per game…He led the Jets in average ice time in the regular season with 23:23.

Clutch KC
Kyle Connor scored at 6:02 of the first overtime period in Game 4 of last season’s first round series against the St. Louis Blues for the only playoff overtime winner in franchise history…Cody Eakin is the only other player on the Jets roster that has scored an overtime goal in the playoffs, doing so May 5/16 at STL when he was a member of the Dallas Stars.

Vezina Finalist
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, which is awarded to the NHL goaltender that is adjudged to be the best at his position…Hellebuyck led all NHL goaltenders in games (t-58), shots faced (1,796), saves (1,656), and shutouts (6)…The Commerce, Michigan native ranked second overall in starts (56), wins (31), and minutes (3,268:33)…Hellebuyck recorded 31 of the 37 Jets wins (83.8%), the second-highest percentage among goaltenders on the 24 teams set to resume play…Hellebuyck faced 37-or-more shots on 13 occasions and posted a 10-1-2 record, 2.08 goals-against average, and a .949 save percentage in those contests…He is the only member of the Jets that is the finalist for any of the NHL’s year-end awards, though captain Blake Wheeler has been announced as one of the 31 nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy.

Playoff History
All-Time Playoff Appearance: 5th
Consecutive Playoff Appearance: 3
Most Recent Playoff Appearance: 2019 (FR: 4-2 L vs. STL)
All-Time Playoff Record: 12-22 in 34 GP (2-4 in 6 series)

Playoff Records
Game 7s: 1-0 (0-0 at home, 1-0 on road)
Overtime: 1-2 (0-1 at home, 1-1 on road)
Facing Elimination: 1-4 (0-2 at home, 1-2 on road)
With Chance to Clinch Series: 2-1 (1-1 at home, 1-0 on road)

How the Jets Were Built

Drafted (15) – Appleton, Berdin, Connor, Copp, Ehlers, Gustafsson, Harkins, Hellebuyck, Laine, Lowry, Morrissey, Niku, Poolman, Roslovic, Scheifele
Trade (5) – Beaulieu, DeMelo, Eakin, Pionk, Wheeler
Free Agency (6) – Bitetto, Bourque, Brossoit, Kulikov, Letestu, Perreault
Waivers (5) – Comrie, Dahlstrom, Sbisa, Shaw, Shore

Broadcast Information
All games of this Stanley Cup Qualifier meeting between Winnipeg and Calgary can be viewed on Sportsnet in Canada or listened to in Winnipeg on TSN 1290.

Broadcasters
TV:         Sportsnet – Chris Cuthbert & Louie DeBrusk
Radio:   TSN 1290 – Paul Edmonds & Brian Munz