Jets like the mystery carton in your fridge

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This article was published 19/04/2015 (3850 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets are like that mystery carton of milk in your fridge with the smudged expiry date. Take a sniff, maybe a small sip. Sour? Past its date and ready for the trash? Or still fresh enough to pour on your kid’s Cheerios? We’ll find out in Game 3 tonight.

The Jets have returned home trailing the Anaheim Ducks two games to none in this best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff series. So there is a hint of desperation in the air. Who are we kidding? It’s more of a thick fog.

Or at least it should be. One more loss and this series will be moved into the sure-thing bin — and not in favour of the Winnipeg side.

Regardless of the status of the series, there will be a celebration in Winnipeg tonight. How long it lasts remains to be seen.

Jets fans have been iced for nearly 20 playoff seasons. The last time they came to an NHL post-season game here, it was a wake. This will be a baptism of sorts for the fans, the players on the ice and the entire city.

At the very least, all involved from a Winnipeg standpoint can attend safe in the knowledge they won’t be saying goodbye to their team. No matter what the outcome, the Jets aren’t on their way out of town.

The places are set for a party. Maybe it ends with all your friends swaying in the kitchen, drunk and singing along to Meatloaf a little too loud and with way too much emotion.

Or maybe it gets busted up and you’re left to survey the damage alone, frustrated and disappointed at what might have been.

The Jets have been ahead on the scoreboard for more than 30 minutes over the first two games. The Ducks have had the lead for just over seven minutes, albeit the right seven.

The list of things that have gone wrong from a Jets perspective is long. No power play, poor discipline, lack of scoring from the team’s best players and an inability to hold leads. The Jets have started OK, but they haven’t finished. They’ve been pushy at the start of the fight, bloodied and embarrassed by the end.

This isn’t all about the Jets. Winnipeg hasn’t been itself, but the other guys, those quacky Ducks, they’ve been strong. Their top players, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzalf, have been excellent. Surprise series entrant Clayton Stoner has been rock solid and tougher than a night at the Spike in Transcona.

Oh, and their evil genius, Ryan Kesler, has done his job — well. Kesler has made life uncomfortable for second-year centre Mark Scheifele. An elbow here, a slew-foot there. Vintage Kesler.

The Jets like to pride themselves on being big and fast. So far it’s the Ducks who have been faster and more physical. Tiny Toby Enstrom is having a nightmare of a series. His strength is going back into his own zone, retrieving the puck and turning it up ice with a sharp first pass. The Ducks have tried to turn him into a rinkboard advertisement, wallpapering him every chance they get.

The Jets are in tough in a myriad of ways. Home ice can provide a little wind under their wings, but they have to use the inspiration. They have to be faster and they have to be better.

Veteran Drew Stafford said Sunday morning the team has been in tough spots before and this is not the point where they need to look in the mirror and determine the task is too large.

“It’s not time for that right now and we’re not thinking that. We have a great opportunity to head home and put on a great show for our fans for Game 3,” said Stafford. “Like I said, bottom line is, there’s nothing we can do about those two games, so we have to take what we can from it, but we’re feeling just fine. We’re ready to go and we’re going to be jacked up for Game 3.”

Stafford, Adam Pardy and Adam Lowry have been the Winnipeg goal scorers through the first two games. The storylines about balance and depth from the Winnipeg side still hold true. But these players are supposed to be complementary to men like Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little and Dustin Byfuglien.

Winnipeg has not played anywhere near to its best in this series, and while Anaheim and its brilliant execution has lots to do with this, the Jets’ best players have been effective against top-end competition all season.

They must begin to have an impact, or the Ducks will finish this series in Winnipeg. Four-game sweep. On to the next round for the Ducks without a nervous moment.

Stafford said his team needs to park the first two games and get into the moment.

“We need to enjoy it. Enjoy being home and enjoy that atmosphere. We know it’s going to be unbelievable there, especially with the way the last two games have gone, extremely tight and close games. We’re just looking forward to getting back home and get that opportunity to get that first win,” he said. “I think we have to make sure that we’re picking each other up. We need to stick with each other. The type of group we have in this room, we’re a family and we pick each other up when we’re going through tough times. I think that character is what got us over the hump to get us into the playoffs and I think we’re going to lean on that character.”

This is just talk until it’s put into action. Stafford isn’t a con artist. He speaks from the heart. He’s a positive guy, but a realist as well. He believed what he was saying Sunday. It wasn’t forced or contrived.

It can ring true, but will it be real?

Jets coach Paul Maurice was of the same mind as Stafford and even a little more specific. Maurice knows everything his team does comes from its ability to skate. But they’ve only made circles in their own zone in the third periods of the first two games.

“We just need to find a little bit more of that confidence that will keep us moving quick through 60 minutes. There are parts of the game where we’re moving at the right pace and speed. Part of it is they’ve got some really good team speed there, so you need to match that for 60 minutes,” said Maurice. “These games are so tight and that’s the painful and frustrating thing about it this morning. First, back on the airplane, and then get back to speed and away we go.”

Well said by all. Well done by all would be a lot better right about now.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @garylawless