Stanley Cup Playoffs: Calgary Flames vs Winnipeg Jets preview

Who will win the Stanley Cup Playoffs play-in series between the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets?

The eighth seed Calgary Flames will face off against the ninth seed Winnipeg Jets in the Qualifying Round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This best of five series is the only matchup of the qualifying round to feature two Canadian teams going head to head. It’s also the first playoff series of any kind between these two teams.

This matchup promises to be a fast skating, high scoring series with both teams having loads of young, high end skilled talent at the forward positions. Both teams also rely heavily on their goaltending as their defensive units give up a lot of shots against per game.

There was only one head to head matchup between these two teams this past season and that was an outdoor game back in October. The Jets won the snowy game 2-1 in overtime on a goal scored by Bryan Little. A lot has changed since then, so there isn’t much to be drawn from there.

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What will be the same is the series will be held in a neutral site in Canada at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. All the Western Conference series games, Conference Finals games, and Stanley Cup games will take place in Edmonton.

The Calgary Flames come into the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 36-27-7 season record, good for 79 points and third place in the Pacific Division. They had an uneven season with 12 wins in their first 27 games and endured a six-game winless streak shortly before former Head Coach Bill Peters resigned for conduct detrimental to the team at the end of November.

The Flames had stretches of a seven-game winning streak and a five-game winning streak under current Head Coach Geoff Ward to claw their way back into playoff contention and finish the season stronger than they started it.

Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Jets come into the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 37-28-6 record, good for 80 points and fourth place in the Central Division. The Jets also had an uneven season which was hindered right from the start losing star defensemen Dustin Byfuglien due to a situation that eventually led to him having his contract terminated. However, the Jets finished the season strong once the calendar hit February, going 12-5-2 before the pandemic stoppage.

Jets center Bryan Little and Flames defensemen Travis Hamonic will not be returning to this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs. Both teams will have all of their other players available aside from those two players.

Each team relies heavily on their 2 top forward lines as the driving forces of their respective teams. Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Elias Lindholm form Calgary’s top line while All-Star Matthew Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund, and Andrew Mangiapane form their second line.

Meanwhile, Winnipeg has Kyle Conner, All-Star Mark Scheifele, and Blake Wheeler on their top line, and Nikolaj Ehlers- Cody Eakin-Patrik Laine on their second line. High round draft picks, current and former All-Stars, and later round gems all across the board.

Both teams have middle of the pack production team-wise for goals for and goals against during the season as respective teams compared to the rest of the league but have the firepower offensively to take over games at any given time.

Forward Advantage: Even.

Flames captain Mark Giordano is the best defenseman in the series paired with T.J. Brodie will be leading a defensive unit that was eighth overall on the penalty kill this past season.

Jets defensemen Josh Morrissey and Neal Pionk lead the defensive unit that only had two defensive players return from the previous season and had a combined 76 points total, 37 of which came on the power play. Both teams have puck-moving defensive units that push the tempo feeding the offense.

Defense Advantage: Calgary.

Both teams are not considered great defensive teams. The greatest strength of each team’s defense is the goaltending. 2020 Vezina trophy finalist and All-Star Connor Hellebuyck and 2020 All-Star replacement David Rittich will go head to head with teams in front of them that ranked 7th and 8th in the entire league for most shots allowed.

Hellebuyck played in 10 more games than Rittich, had a 2.55 goals-against average to Rittich’s 2.97 and a save percentage of .922% to Rittich’s .907%, all while facing 300+ more shots.

Goaltending advantage: Jets

Intangibles wise, Calgary plays a more physical game and if they can impose their toughness pounding the Jets down, that would be their best way to take the series.

The Jets have been a resilient bunch all season long being able to come back into games while trailing, scoring in bunches, and/or late in games to tie it up or take the lead, much like the outdoor game between these two teams on October 26th. The Jets can not be counted out fully of any game or series deficit until it is all over.

Series prediction: Winnipeg Jets take the series 3 games to 2 over Calgary Flames.

Ultimately, Connor Hellebuyck will be the MVP of this series as he has been for Winnipeg this whole season and keep the offense in the game to come back from any deficit like they have many times this season. That being said, this will be a tight series all the way through that can go either way if a few bounces go Calgary’s way.

One thing that is certain is this will be a buckle your seatbelt, foot on the gas, high octane series of fast, free-flowing action that will be fun to watch unfold.