What Went Wrong: The Buyck Stops Here

Remember when we Colorado Avalanche fans were in the doldrums after losing 7-0 to the Winnipeg Jets at home? That was a game we needed to win to keep our hopes of having home ice in this series alive, and that drubbing totally shut us down.

Remember when we Colorado Avalanche fans were in such despair because we didn't get home ice, and our goalie, Alexandar Georgiev, was getting shelled? And then we were all even more angered when Georgiev gave up seven goals in Game One?!

Remember when Jets fans chanted "Pull your goalie" at us?

Pepperidge Farm remembers. Unfortunately for the Jets, so did the Avalanche.

The Avalanche took all of that personally and then some! Four straight wins, and all in big time dominant fashion! Even the Game One loss was strong, as the Avs put up six goals in that game. That was the difference. The Avs continued scoring. The Jets? Not so much. All they did was get dominated left and right, and then resort to dirty hits on Cale Makar when they realized that their dream season would come to an abrupt end.

Connor Hellebuyck. Oh boy. As we all expected, Hellebuyck was named as one of the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy along with Thatcher Demko and Sergei Bobrovsky. Hellebuyck also won the Jennings Trophy for giving up the least amount of goals. After this series, he's going to have so many nightmares. 24 goals against in this series. A Goals Against Average of 5.23! An .870 Save Percentage! What the holy hell?! Nothing got past Hellebuyck pretty much all season, but when it came to the playoffs, Buyck was reduced to a penny. Remember the "Pull your goalie" chants that Jets fans hurled at us. Here's the thing. Georgiev was never pulled all series. Hellebuyck ended up pulled for Laurent Brossoit during Game Four.

Now, the easy thing for experts and fans (especially Jets fans) to do would be to put all of the blame on Hellebuyck. It wouldn't be accurate, though. It can be said that the Jets' key players disappeared after Game One. Kyle Connor had three points in Game One, he would have two in the next four games. Connor and Mark Schiefele were also the only ones getting a point per game; Schiefele finished with six points, which led the team. Josh Morrissey had only four points, but three of them went in the net, with his last one being a power play goal in Game Five. Also, the Jets had leads in three of the four games they lost. That's another problem.

So the Jets' playoff woes continue; only one playoff series victory since that amazing run in 2018. Remember how I mentioned that home ice is important? Turns out home ice isn't a friend of the Winnipeg Jets. Not counting the bubble and beginning with 2018, the Jets have lost four series when they've had home ice advantage. If you count their lone playoff appearance as the Atlanta Thrashers in 2007, they've lost five such series. That's very damning.

One player who has to be laughing his ass off is Blake Wheeler. Remember Blake Wheeler? He's a Thrasher who moved with the team to Winnipeg, and they got rid of him after last year's loss to Vegas, with the claim that he was the problem. Wheeler's with the Rangers, he's moved on. His former team hasn't. The Jets are back to the drawing board, and they have to start over and figure out what the hell they need to do to get over that hump.

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