The Winnipeg Jets will face the Colorado Avalanche in the first round after a season sweep

The Winnipeg Jets have an exciting matchup against the Colorado Avalanche in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Dallas Stars clinched the Central Division title with a win over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday, locking up the Jets and Avalanche as the division's second- and third-place teams.

Could Winnipeg's success against the Avalanche this season be a preview of things to come this spring?

Head to head

Winnipeg has defeated Colorado in all three games this year – 4-2 and 6-2 in December, before Saturday's 7-0 lead.

Defenseman Josh Morrissey has seven points (two goals) in three games. Forwards Gabriel Vilardi and Adam Lowry each have three goals, and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is 3-0-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .939 save percentage.

“We have the best goalie in the league,” Jets quarterback Neil Pionk said after Saturday's game. “It gives us a lot of confidence, let's play freely, let's show some game. Like I said, when we play these good teams, no matter what we do, they make a few plays. We can play a great game and still give up some chances and the goalie will help us.”

Hellebuyck and the Jets have allowed 194 goals entering Monday's game this season, the fewest in the NHL. It will be a classic matchup of defense and offense against the Avalanche, who lead the league with 299 goals.

“I do not know. “It's disappointing,” Avalanche forward Andrew Cogliano said after the 7-0 loss. So it's just the nature of the animal that we're with a team like this.”

Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon, the Hart Trophy favorite, finished second in the NHL with 138 points (51 goals and 87 assists) and was the only Avs skater with multiple points (one goal, three assists) in the regular season between the teams. two teams.

Ice at home

The match has been set, but as of April 15, the schedule is not set in stone. The Jets enter Monday's game with 106 points with two games remaining, while the Avalanche trail with 105 points with one game remaining.

With a win and a pair of Jets losses over the final four days of the season, Colorado can claim home-ice advantage for this series, which could play a role in deciding the series winner:

The Avalanche have scored an NHL-best 61 points on home ice this season, while McKinnon has scored 51 points on the road compared to 87 at the Ball Arena this season. He has only gone scoreless twice this season — one of which came against the Jets on Saturday.

“It would be great for us to start at home and play in front of our fans. We worked hard to get it under control,” Lowry said. “It's good, but whether we start at home or on the road, we're a real reliable group.”

Intangibles

While Winnipeg may have home-ice advantage for the series, they can't claim the advantage of experience against an Avalanche team that won the Stanley Cup two seasons ago.

The Jets have advanced beyond the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs just once in the past six seasons, and the Avalanche have failed to win at least one playoff series just once in that span.

“We've got to learn from it and study it and understand it because we've got to be a lot better than that,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said after the weekend loss.

These two teams have never met in the Stanley Cup playoffs before, but their regular-season matchups have been hotly contested lately – this offseason. Since the 2018-19 campaign, the Avalanche have been 8-8-2 against the Jets.

“They're a great hockey team,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said after Saturday's game. “They have elite players, the coaches made them play hockey. It's not their hockey team today. We know they're a great hockey team and we know it's going to be a tough series.”