At the start of this season, Ondrej Pavelec was the clear starter for the Winnipeg Jets. He had the big contract and the pedigree, so to speak. His backup, Michael Hutchinson, only had three NHL games under his belt heading into this year so when he started stealing starts from Pavelec, many were a little surprised. Don’t get me wrong, Hutchinson had proven that he was ready for a backup role with his play in the AHL heading into this season, but he still had a lot to learn in the NHL. He did that quickly, and turned his season into a Calder Trophy type of year but lately, he’s struggled and this has opened the door for the resurgence of Pavelec, and he’s taken full advantage of his new found opportunity.
Pavelec and the Jets are in the thick of things for the wildcard slot in the Western Conference playoffs. Currently, they are two points up on the Los Angeles Kings for that coveted placement and the Jets can thank Pavelec for fending off the defending Champs. In the month of March, Pavelec has an 8-2 record and is sporting a stellar 0.951 save percentage over those ten games, which also saw him winning the NHL’s First Star of the week award during his current run. Needless to say, Pavelec has found his groove. He’s not just knocking off lower tier teams either. During his six game winning streak he helped defeat Tampa Bay, San Jose, St. Louis, Montreal and Edmonton. He also shut out Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. That’s no easy feat.
For goalies, it’s all about confidence. When you are confident, the rest of the team see’s that and feeds on that. Once you start playing better, the rest of the team normally will follow and improve their confidence as well. This appears to be the case in Winnipeg. Pavelec is playing with a lot of confidence and it’s oozing over in the locker room and on the ice. As long as this confidence holds, the Jets are tough to beat.
The Jets are basically playing playoff hockey and cannot afford to take too many nights off down the stretch. There are other teams breathing down their proverbial necks for one of those last precious playoff spots. It’s strange that they are doing this on the back of Ondrej Pavelec, who has never led the Jets to the playoffs in his four seasons there. In fact, Pavelec has been a mediocre goalie during his NHL career. He’s eight games under 0.500 for wins/losses for his career and considering he’s been watching a good part of the season from the bench, he’s on pace to set career highs in both goals against average and save percentage.
How long Pavelec can keep this up is still to be seen. It will be interesting to see how much rope head coach Paul Maurice will give Pavelec after he has a bad game. Will he stick with his veteran or will he go back to his young goalie that has put up some stellar numbers in his first NHL season, but faltered down the stretch. Maurice was recently quoted saying Pavelec is playing the best hockey of his career, and it’s hard to argue with that statement. There are six games left in the regular season for the Jets, and all but one are against current playoff teams. One of them is a back to back so there’s a good chance Pavelec won’t start them all, but he has gained the confidence of his coach, and sometimes that’s all it takes. It sure worked in Hutchinson’s benefit for most of this season.
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