Winnipeg Jets Crushed By Colorado Avalanche in 5 Games: What Went Wrong? – The Hockey Writers – Winnipeg Jets

It wasn’t long, but it sure was painful.

The Winnipeg Jets were reverse swept by the Colorado Avalanche after winning Game 1 and have made another first-round exit. Most thought the series between the Central Division’s number-two and number-three seeds — separated by only three points in the standings — would be highly competitive, but it turned out to be a mismatch.

Related: Avalanche Outduel Jets 6-3 in Game 5, Take Series 4-1

The Jets, despite having home-ice advantage and defeating the Avalanche all three times in the season series, were soundly dominated and looked more like a Draft Lottery team than one that was fourth in the league with 52 wins and looked poised to make a Stanley Cup run.

Now that we’ve got the cadaver, it’s time to do the autopsy. Here, we’ll take a look at everything that went so wrong.

Jets Couldn’t Keep Up With Avalanche’s Speed or Play Solid Defence

With the Avalanche having the league’s leading offense and the Jets having allowed the fewest goals in the league, the series looked poised to be an “unstoppable force meets an unmovable object” type of scenario, but it didn’t turn out that way.

The Avalanche’s offence — led by Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar — ran roughshod, completely exploiting and dismantling Jets’ defensive structure by coming at them with breakneck speed. The Jets were never able to find a way to stave off the relentless attack for more than a few minutes at a time, and after winning the William M. Jennings Trophy in the regular season and having a stretch of 34-straight games they allowed three or fewer goals, set an inauspicious record of being the first team in NHL playoff history to give up five-plus goals in each of their first five games.

The Avalanche succeeded at nearly every zone exit attempt and experienced little adversity in entering the offensive zone with speed and puck possession as the Jets’ usually-excellent forecheck was non-existent. This, along with the Jets’ many turnovers, led to a boatload of high-danger chances both on the rush and…