Why Vegas won

[BigZ65]

Vegas played a simple game and did all the basics well, and stuck to it. The only real adjustment they made was to their PK after game 1, challenging the puck much more.

The Jets couldn’t play the high intensity forecheck game for 60 minutes, and in the periods they dominated they didn’t score enough.

The Jets were stunned in game 2, as most of us were, and looked defeated after game 3.

The reffing was pretty awful and almost scripted in terms of when PPs came for both teams. Faceoffs were brutal but that was against Nashville too.

It will be interesting to see what the team looks like in 18-19 and what Maurice does. I tend to think he’s not a great fit for an elite roster.

 

[Ducky10]

Vegas played smart playoff hockey. Wpg didn't in this round. Jets are a highly entertaining team with some awesome characters but they aren't a technical team. Jets, you did not make the cut. Hand in your weapon.

A technical team? In what sense? They carried the play in most games, limited Vegas to a large extent and didn't allow much outside of what Helle should have stopped.

The only thing that impressed me about Vegas was their relentless work ethic and Fleury. They were the fresher team and it showed as the series wore on. The Jets ability to close out games in the 3rd period all year showed how technically sound they can be, they didn't get the opportunity this series, for a variety of reasons. Lady luck and a hot goaltender at the forefront of those reasons.

 

[Ducky10]

Vegas played a simple game and did all the basics well, and stuck to it. The only real adjustment they made was to their PK after game 1, challenging the puck much more.

The Jets couldn’t play the high intensity forecheck game for 60 minutes, and in the periods they dominated they didn’t score enough.

The Jets were stunned in game 2, as most of us were, and looked defeated after game 3.

The reffing was pretty awful and almost scripted in terms of when PPs came for both teams. Faceoffs were brutal but that was against Nashville too.

It will be interesting to see what the team looks like in 18-19 and what Maurice does. I tend to think he’s not a great fit for an elite roster.

I thought they were defeated after game 4 tbh. They played a hell of a game and had that impossbly unlucky play by Buff and seeing eye shot through Helle not happen when it did, I think they break through and it's a different story. They busted their ass that game and came away down 3-1, it was a killer.

 

[Stej]

1. Got out-goalied.
2. Bounces were slightly in their favour.

This is the nature of the beast. It happens.

 

[Ducky10]

BREAK OUT THE TIN FOIL HATS! There is no conspiracy so please stop it.

PP opportunities were 17-11 in favor of WPG. Were some calls missed? Sure. But that goes both ways and those sort of things tend to balance out over the course of a series.

Hellebuyck didnt play poorly per say. He was solid between the pipes but struggled a bit handling the puck and it cost him more than once.

As the series went on I thought WPG looked hesitant to shoot at times. Fleury was playing so well it seemed to get in their heads and they tried looking for the "perfect shot" instead of just getting it on net.

Defensively, WPG didnt have an answer for the Vegas dump and chase. Vegas was the faster team and it showed every night but game 1. There was just a constant onslaught of pressure.

Vegas was more disciplined and I thought Gallant outcoached Maurice

A constant barage of pressure by who? The Jets outshot Vegas in pretty much every game, in shots on net and shots directed at net.

Outcoached? Be specific, that's such a throw away line, so easy to use and never backed up. Gallant did jack shit, his goalie stood on his head and they rode some sub par goaltending by Helle at opportune times in 3 games.

This Gallant as a superior coach narrative is garbage. Vegas is disciplined in their approach and they all buy in, other than that they don't do anything special.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I noticed games in Winnipeg that there was so much fanning, maybe there's something BMTSP needs to do with the refrigeration system because the ice isn't ready for these conditions as we're used to having hockey in the winter only.

But Gallant encourages his players to play at their very best in their positions on top of having a good system. Fleury is an excellent goaltender too, Pittsburgh was dumb to give him up, guess they didn't want to look like Vancouver when they gave up Schneider... then Luongo. Just think Pittsburgh should've made a trade so that they didn't have to give up a goalie and say they gave up Derrick Pouliot along with say... Ron Hainsey.

As for the Jets, I think we were battered up, out of juice at this point, and most of our players were likely playing through injuries. We'll likely find out in the near-future.

But from this day forward, I am looking at Vegas as Bettman's team.

 

[MrHeiskanen]

Yes, the NHL rigged it against the Jets.

 

[DK59]

After Game 1, we got behind every game. Whenever we clawed our way back, we let in a demoralizing goal shortly thereafter. Needed some timely saves.

A lot of Jets just didn’t produce. Secondary scoring evaporated.

What amazes me is that in the last four games we were tied on 7 different occasions and each time LV scored the next goal and usually it came quickly. Continually playing from behind wears a team out, especially when you are not getting the balanced scoring to make it easier to come back. I am still at a loss why in so many of the games (after the Minny series) we were slow out of the gate.

 

[blues10]

Perrault and Little were outscored by Nosek and Reaves among the issues the Jets had.

The total lack of any type of 3rd and 4th line scoring wasn’t helping our cause. The 2nd line wasn’t accomplishing much 5v5 either.

We simply did not score goals down the lineup.

 

[WickedPegJets]

The Golden Knights are a team comprised to rag tag players that were rejected by their former teams as not good enough to protect from the disperson draft. As a result, all year long and now in the playoffs, they played with a chip on their shoulders. The main reason why the Jets lost was because Helly gave up too many soft goals at the worst possible moment in the games.

 

[WickedPegJets]

Perrault and Little were outscored by Nosek and Reaves among the issues the Jets had.

The total lack of any type of 3rd and 4th line scoring wasn’t helping our cause. The 2nd line wasn’t accomplishing much 5v5 either.

We simply did not score goals down the lineup.

Nikki Ehlers through injury was invisible with 0 goal. That spoke volumes about the Jets' lack of secondary scoring.

 

[Eyeseeing]

This is the stupidest thing I've ever read.

Worst part is you can’t unread it.

 

[Adam da bomb]

Only bottom 6 players I expected more from was Perrault and Little. Copp invisible but cheap. Tanev great. Roslo great should have been played earlier.

 

[Afterburner]

McFleury was in God mode and a hell of a lot of bounces that went their way. They keep it simple, use their speed and stick to what works. I'd watched a few Vegas games prior to the series and I knew that wasn't the real Vegas we were playing in game 1. The reffing was very off in places which was annoying as hell.

 

[CorgisPer60]

McFleury was in God mode and a hell of a lot of bounces that went their way. They keep it simple, use their speed and stick to what works. I'd watched a few Vegas games prior to the series and I knew that wasn't the real Vegas we were playing in game 1. The reffing was very off in places which was annoying as hell.

This is what being goalied looks like.

 

[sting13]

Is it rigged? No. But the OP mentioned things that gave Vegas the win. Great goaltending with some luck and they played a old school clutch and grab game that in the regular season gets called. The Jets play a creative game with passing that Vegas stopped by simply covering guys man to man and not giving the Jets a chance at any space. Stopped them from getting quality shots. The Jets are a better team but they simply could not play the same game they play in regular season. Better teams don't always win but usually teams that play like Vegas eventually lose when teams figure out how to beat the defensive system they play. You can bet the Caps and Lightning will watch the tapes and figure out ways to beat the Vegas system.

 

[scelaton]

Is it rigged? No. But the OP mentioned things that gave Vegas the win. Great goaltending with some luck and they played a old school clutch and grab game that in the regular season gets called. The Jets play a creative game with passing that Vegas stopped by simply covering guys man to man and not giving the Jets a chance at any space. Stopped them from getting quality shots. The Jets are a better team but they simply could not play the same game they play in regular season. Better teams don't always win but usually teams that play like Vegas eventually lose when teams figure out how to beat the defensive system they play. You can bet the Caps and Lightning will watch the tapes and figure out ways to beat the Vegas system.

Nice, succinct summary. Jets will figure it out for next year and Helle will be stronger.

 

[Ducky10]

Is it rigged? No. But the OP mentioned things that gave Vegas the win. Great goaltending with some luck and they played a old school clutch and grab game that in the regular season gets called. The Jets play a creative game with passing that Vegas stopped by simply covering guys man to man and not giving the Jets a chance at any space. Stopped them from getting quality shots. The Jets are a better team but they simply could not play the same game they play in regular season. Better teams don't always win but usually teams that play like Vegas eventually lose when teams figure out how to beat the defensive system they play. You can bet the Caps and Lightning will watch the tapes and figure out ways to beat the Vegas system.

Great post, I think the Jets needed to have more guys cruising through the middle lanes in the o-zone and running some subtle interference. San Jose did it pretty well against Vegas but were goalied, as well as not having a deep enough roster. Jets didn't quite take advantage of their size and couldn't create a lot of space, especially with all the clutching amd grabbing.

Tampa does this well, lots of misdirection and quick pick type plays.

 

[surixon]

This is what being goalied looks like.

Sums up my thoughts. Couple that with a high team shooting percentage and this is what happens.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Was it rigged? I'm unsure... but red flags were definitely going up. Not once in the previous 94 games(yes I watched every one) did I have suspicions about the integrity of what I'm watching but yet in games 2-5 it seemed painfully clear something seemed to be going on.

Vegas won quite simply because of the complete liberty they had to hold, hook and interfere at will. It allowed a badly inferior team to keep virtually all scoring opportunities to low risk areas(which is why fleurys save percentage is so high) and it allowed for their "quick strike" due to creating unusual turnovers and unnaturally gaining position and space in the offensive zone.

If you noticed, referring made sure to penalize the jets early in every game with quick holding or interference call to establish what will be "normal" for the game. As we saw In some cases like the one on wheeler it was a complete phantom call. As for vegas, basically every penalty call on them was tripping essentially letting all their holding and interference go completely unchecked as we saw with mcnab right in front of the ref. This led to a completely stacked deck giving the jets very little chance to win puck battles, make crisp passes or even gain good position away from the play.

This is why vegas won the series, this is why vegas beat the sharks and kings and this is why vegas even made the playoffs. Vegas isn't good, they are a team of bottom 6 forwards and 3rd pair Dmen. Lucas sbisa didn't all of a sudden become awesome at hockey, he became a lot more effective when he can grab his way back into position once he loses a step.

Based on pure odds a Canadian team should win the cup every 4th year and a Canadian team should be in the finals every second year. It's more than just a coincidence it's been 25+ years a Canadian team has won and only 4 Canadian teams have even made the final over that span. People need to stop putting up with this crap.

As much as it may appear that NHL results are fixed - and it often does appear that way - it is impossible to believe that is actually the case. There is no way some now retired referee does not spill the beans. Just no way you keep that quiet for 25 years. In fact I don't believe you could keep that quiet for even a single season. Even a single game, it would leak out.

I agree, this Vegas season has the appearance of being fixed from the get go. I just don't believe it is possible.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Jets scored 9 goals in 5 games... 5 in the last 4. Thats why they lost.

I'd say that is a little better than half of it. The rest was soft goals given up by Helle on chances from turnovers that should never have happened.

 

[Jetfaninflorida]

St Louis Blues made it to the Stanley Cup finals in their expansion year. Florida Panthers made it in their third year after expansion. Nothing is fixed. This place sounds like PK Subban complaining after they lost that the Preds were still better than the Jets even though they lost. Sorry, in a 7 game series the better team wins - unless you want to call Blake Wheeler a liar.

They were the better team (including coaching) with the better system that stymied us. We didn't adjust. Just kept 'moving our feet' 'quicker' into the same trap/defensive system. Zero meaningful adjustments for four straight losses.

Still a great step forward. On to next year.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

It would be nice to believe that - makes it easier to accept - but fact is Vegas scored enough goals and we didn't - they struggled against us at times - that says a lot - there were no huge blowouts like they are fully capable of - but they really knew what they were doing. I didn't realize it really until now but the amount of time we spent panicking in our own zone as they came in wave after wave. Really they made it seem like they had 6 skaters on at a time. That adds up and even though we were still fast (started to look gassed near the back end of the series) it stopped being controlled.

Still think Fleury MVP but the more I think about the more I was blown away by how much ground each of their players covered. It could change how the game is played.

Maybe as simple as the extra 3 or 4 days of rest and the hot goalie. Again the conspiracy can make it easier to deflect the reality we weren't as ready for the WCF / SCF as we thought - but the league can barely get its tweets right sometimes let alone set up something like this. Watch the games again and its easy to see what happened.

Officiating is bad and inconsistent across the entire league but today and last game we failed on multiple powerplays. There are bad / missed calls for both sides.

Agree with this post except for the bolded. That would not make it easier to accept. That would make it absolutely unacceptable. Write off the NHL completely and forever kind of unacceptable.

 

[Saintb]

Is it rigged? No. But the OP mentioned things that gave Vegas the win. Great goaltending with some luck and they played a old school clutch and grab game that in the regular season gets called. The Jets play a creative game with passing that Vegas stopped by simply covering guys man to man and not giving the Jets a chance at any space. Stopped them from getting quality shots. The Jets are a better team but they simply could not play the same game they play in regular season. Better teams don't always win but usually teams that play like Vegas eventually lose when teams figure out how to beat the defensive system they play. You can bet the Caps and Lightning will watch the tapes and figure out ways to beat the Vegas system.

serious question..how do you beat it tactically?

 

[surixon]

Looks to me that the series really came down to goaltending. We didn't get it with Helle sporting a pretty darn ugly .896 save percentage at 5 on 5. Whereas Vegas got a godly .952. I don't expect as a team we will ever run into a team that not only is getting those kinds of results in net but also shooting at an above 10 % rate at ES.

Looks like the percentages are clearly on their side this season. I suspect that they will not see anything close to this again for a very long time.