Avalanche-Jets Series Preview.

 2C Winnipeg vs Colorado 3C 

Now in the 2-3 matchup in the  Western Conference Central Division we have the Colorado Avalanche who had another great year and were able to get 3rd taking on the Winnipeg Jets who finished the year red hot and wound up getting 2nd in the Central.

History of Rivalry between teams in Playoffs:

Now for the first time in playoff history  the Jets and Avalanche will play in a playoff series, so since the Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise was made the Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets have never played in a playoff series so this is going to be the first time so it'll be interesting to see who wins their first ever playoff meeting. 

Season Series Record: 

Winnipeg 3-0-0 17-4+13

Colorado 0-3-0 4-17-13

Ron Chenoy USA Today Sports

Each Teams X-Factors: Georgiev vs Ehlers

Next going over to the two teams X-Factors in this series and in my opinion it is one of the Jets forwards and the Avalanches goalie. Now on the Colorado side even though they do have guys like Mackinnon and Makar, I would say that Georgiev is this teams X-Factor because although he has been a solid goalie for the Avalanche and has had some decent numbers, not only has he struggled against the Jets in the regular season, but he has also been one one of the goalies to play the most in the regular season this year, so what he has left in the tank concerns me, so if Georgiev has a solid series I think the Avalanche could win, but if he is shaky then they may lose, while for Winnipeg I think Ehlers may be the teams X-Factor because although they have a lot of offensive weapons such as Monahan, Toffoli, Scheifele etc, Ehlers always seems to be hot and cold and is another element of that Jets offense, so if he can do well and produce I think the Jets will be in a good position.

Which teams are best at 3 Positions:

Offense: offensively I want to say the Avalanche have a little bit of a better offense given they have the better offensive weapons such as Rantanen and MacKinnon, but I think the Jets have a slightly bit deeper offense and I think the Jets with lines one through four can have a little bit of a deeper lineup than the Avalanche do, so it's a real tossup, I'll give the Avalanche the edge offensively just because of their star power but it's a really close matchup.

Defense: if you look at it defensively, the Avalanche for sure have the better defense as I think the Jets have a pretty good defense with guys like Morrissey, Pionk, and Demelo but I think the Avalanche have three extremely good D pairs on their blue line, so I would definitely give the edge on the defensive end to Colorado.

James Carey Lauder USA Today Sports 

Goaltending: Goaltending wise for sure it's Winnipeg, Georgiev has looked shaky over the past little while and I think he's been started too much and I do wonder if that could be a contributing factor to this series, as well I think Hellebuyck has looked fantastic over the past couple of weeks as he wound up winning the William M Jennings Trophy and he's he's looked fantastic so I would definitely think that Hellebuyck is the better of the two goalies so I would give the edge in goal to Winnipeg.

Biggest on Ice Matchup: Georgiev vs Jets offense

Now for my biggest on ice matchup for this series, in my eyes it would have to be Georgiev against the high powered and deep offense the Jets have. Now for Georgiev like we said earlier, he has had troubles with the Jets this year and has been one of the more overworked goalies in the NHL so I have think on some level he is pretty tired and that does concern me a little, while the Jets have a pretty deep offense and at this time can easily role 4 lines and be a extremely competitive team, so whether it is Scheifele, or Ehlers, Monahan or Toffoli or someone else I think this Jets team can hurt you in so many different ways, so I think whoever wins this matchup will have a good chance to win their team this series. 

Predictions:

So in my opinion this is going to be another close series, another one that can go either way as I could see this go Winnipeg's way but I could also see this go Colorado's way, but in my opinion I do think that with the way the Season Series has gone and also with the way the Jets are playing right now entering the playoffs I have the Jets winning in seven games, I think the Jets are going to have their work cut out for them, but I think Hellebuyck and the Jets should be able to slightly get by the Avalanche as I think with Georgiev being leaky over the past while it might be a problem for that team if they want to try and make the second round so it's going to be interesting to see but I have the Jets winning in seven.