After six winless games, Maurice looking to make the Jets soar again

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This article was published 18/11/2015 (3638 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Paul Maurice continues to push any and all buttons in attempt to get the Winnipeg Jets soaring again.

The Jets coach trotted out changes to all four lines at this morning’s skate in advance of tonight’s tilt against the Vancouver Canucks (6:30 p.m.; Sportsnet; TSN 1290) as the club looks to end a six-game winless streak (0-5-1).

“We’ve got a group of forwards and the production is off a little bit,” said Maurice. “We haven’t changed our lines very often through 19-20 games. We wanted to give the young players a chance to get their feet wet. But we’ve gone a stretch now where there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of chemistry so we’re just moving some people around and some of it changes the minutes they’ll play and who they’ll play against, probably.”

The top line of Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler has been reunited, as has the second unit of Mark Scheifele centering Mathieu Perreault and Drew Stafford. It’s the bottom six that has seen some dramatic shifts, with Alex Burmistrov now centering Nikolaj Ehlers and Chris Thorburn and Adam Lowry shifted from centre to the wing on a line with Andrew Copp and Anthony Peluso.

“Any time you’re going through a stretch like we’re going through you’re searching for different ways to spark different guys, your lineup and all sorts of different stuff,” said Ladd. “As a player you probably expect changes to happen and I’m sure that’s what Paul is trying to do. We (Ladd, Little, Wheeler) have played together lots and know each other well. Blake and Bryan are playing at a high level right now and can provide some offence there and a foundation for how the rest of the team needs to play, too.”

Maurice spoke repeatedly during the recent road trip through the Central Division of building the Jets collective confidence again. Reuniting the Top 6 is no doubt a byproduct of that, as is the decision to move Lowry back to the wing.

“We did it last year at this time when he went to the wing,” said Maurice of Lowry. “It’s a simpler game and for a physical player like Adam a lot of times on the wing you can get in and get on the forecheck a little heavier, a little quicker. It’s an asset that he has and we need to build some confidence there in his game so we want to put him in a position where he feels he can get some good things done.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if those players on those two lines (third and fourth) move around a fair amount. It’s not a permanent situation. I really like Alex Burmistrov’s last game in in St. Louis. He looked back to being quick. He spent some time trying to get quicker. It’s a big change to go from the KHL to this game and I started to see some signs so I wanted to put him in a position where he touches the puck a little bit more.”

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The Jets are facing a Canucks squad with its own challenges, having gone 1-4-2 in their last seven. Maurice said Wednesday he believes the recent woes are a slump and don’t represent who they are as a team. That doesn’t also mean there haven’t been some very frank discussions behind closed doors between Maurice and some of his struggling players.

“I will tell you this (dressing) room, and I felt it last year, they take it very, very hard… moreso than they need to, which flies against everything that you hear,” said Maurice. “It’s you’ve got to absolutely feel terrible, somebody needs to be strung up after every loss. Keeping your confidence and keeping your energy level are the two most-important things to drive you through a season. We don’t have a lot of energy right now, we’ve been dragging around the country a little bit and we certainly don’t have a lot of confidence and confidence is absolutely earned.

“There’s some tough meetings you absolutely have to have, you can’t skirt around them. We’ve gone through a few of those and I think you’ve seen the results of them, too.”

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait