Winnipeg Jets goalie, Michael Hutchinson, had himself a night, earning a 1-0 shutout over the Colorado Avalanche despite seeing a bevy of Grade-A scoring opportunities sent his way, a disappointing loss after waiting nearly an entire week between games.
There’s pluses and minuses to having five entire days off in the middle of the season. On one hand, new coach Jared Bednar was able to integrate a couple of players coming back from injury and make any necessary adjustments from the first five games. On the other hand? The team was rusty as all get-out against a Winnipeg Jets team playing the second night of a back-to-back.
That said, the shot attempt differential in the first period was mere 15-10—which by last year’s standards is solid—and Semyon Varlamov was able to keep the Jets off the scoreboard with a number of acrobatic saves.
By the second period, Colorado would tilt the ice back in their favor, but Winnipeg would end up striking first. Who would it be? An ex-Avalanche player, of course, even if he was only a deadline acquisition. That’s right, Shawn Matthias, who signed a contract with the Jets this offseason, blasted a pretty cross-ice one-timer past Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov to put his new team up 1-0 midway through the second.
From this point on, the Avalanche would outshoot the Jets 2-to-1 for the rest of the game, but it wouldn’t matter. Hutchinson stopped everything, whether he deserved to or not. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the third, Colorado would have their second shutout of the season and will be looking for a different result tomorrow night in Glendale, Ariz., where they’ll take on the Coyotes.