Winnipeg Jets clean out lockers, wonder what went wrong and question their futures

Connor Hellebuyck might have looked at times during Winnipeg’s first-round NHL playoff series like he was collecting pucks for the Colorado Avalanche, but the Jets goalie sees it differently.

“You’re probably not going to believe when I say I was playing the best hockey in my career, but that’s truly how I was feeling,” he told reporters Thursday at the team’s exit meetings with the media.

“Not only was I playing some of my best hockey, but I was in that zone where you’re not thinking, you’re just playing, and that’s what you seek. 

“For me to not be able to put my foot down on a single game is really heartbreaking, because it’s not typically how I do things.”

Hellebuyck let in at least five goals in each of the five games in the series that saw the Jets eliminated from playoff contention, as the team was outscored 28-15.

But he was also drilled for 185 shots for an average of 37 per game, compared to the 140 the Jets directed at the Avs.

“I feel like a lot of those games, I was stealing some goals,” he said, adding he’s watched video and there weren’t many he could have had. “I don’t know if I even saw half of the pucks going in the net.

“That being said … I absolutely need to be better if we’re going to win. I can’t be giving up that many goals.”

Captain Adam Lowry said the Jets leaned too much on their netminder and left him facing way too many Grade-A scoring chances.

“[There’s] frustration we couldn’t do more in front of him, so slow down those things,” he said.

Both players said the Jets tried to make adjustments through the series but were simply outplayed by a team that had more pressure and a stronger desire to win every battle.

“You can make all the changes in the world, but it’s kind of a futile experience” if you don’t perform them, Lowry said.

“It’s on all of us to make that stuff work,” Hellebuyck added.

Both agree there are lessons from every loss and that the team — which they feel is on the cusp of being elite — will use those lessons to rise to that next level.

“We were so good [in the regular season],” Hellebuyck said. “I’m hoping that this series kind of opened our eyes to the last piece of the puzzle to go on a long run.”