Desert dogs

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This article was published 13/01/2017 (3271 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 

GLENDALE, Ariz. — So what now?

Yell louder?

Would that even be possible?

And, more to the point, what good would it do anyway?

There were a lot more questions than answers at Gila River Arena Friday on an evening the only response the Winnipeg Jets did provide was not the one head coach Paul Maurice was looking for when he publicly called out his team earlier this week.

Playing the second-worst team in the NHL before a half-empty arena, the Jets were every bit as awful in a 4-3 loss to the Arizona Coyotes as they were two days earlier in a humiliating 7-4 loss at home to the Montreal Canadiens

Outhustled, outmuscled and outplayed for the second game in a row, Jets starting netminder Connor Hellebuyck lasted barely 10 minutes before being relieved of duty after having given up three goals on just six shots.

If that sounds familiar, it should — Hellebuyck also didn’t make it out of the first period in the loss to Montreal, getting the hook after giving up three goals in just seven shots.

The man the Jets were hoping would state his case this season as this franchise’s goalie of the future has now given up six goals on his last 13 shots and was last seen quietly muttering to himself in a corner.

His teammates?

A Jets team that had been winners of three of their previous four games and were coming off a particularly impressive 2-0 shutout of the Calgary Flames Monday at the MTS Centre are now suddenly reeling, having embarrassed both themselves and their coach this week with a pair of utterly inexplicable performances.

Asked Friday morning what response he was expecting from his club after he so publicly berated the players mid-game against Montreal, Maurice told reporters he had every confidence his team would come out and “play our asses off.”

Maurice was wrong. And the question now is whether even he knows how to make things right.

What Now?

Good question. While the problems with this team the last two games clearly run deeper than just the goaltending, they begin there.

Maurice doesn’t have much in the way of good options — or time to get it right. The Jets are back in action tonight in Los Angeles against the Kings and again Monday afternoon in San Jose against the Sharks.

It seems inconceivable Maurice would dare give Hellebuyck what would be his eighth consecutive start tonight, but his only other option would be starting Michael Hutchinson, who carried a woeful 3.30 goals-against average and .890 save percentage into Friday but did play well in relief of Hellebuyck against the Coyotes.

Call up Ondrej Pavelec from the Manitoba Moose, you say?

Pavelec has a 2.88 GAA and .912 save percentage in 17 games this season in the AHL. Those numbers are comparable to Hellebuyck’s in the NHL this season.

Then there’s this: as bad as things have looked the past two games, it’s worth remembering the Jets and Hellebuyck were playing arguably their best hockey of the season less than a week ago.

It went badly very quickly — and for no immediately apparent reason. The good news is that would seem to suggest a return to form could happen just as fast.

But nothing’s changing if nothing’s changing. And what needs to change more than anything right now is this team’s effort level.

Maurice said after practice in Winnipeg Thursday he didn’t punitively “bag skate” his team after the loss to Montreal because he didn’t want them to have an excuse for poor play in Glendale.

Turns out they didn’t need one.

How Did That Go?

It’s hard to believe, but the Jets led this game 1-0 on a Shawn Matthias tap-in barely three minutes into the game.

It was all Coyotes after that, with four goals in a span of just nine minutes, 56 seconds giving the Coyotes a 4-1 lead after the first period.

That’s the way the score remained until early in the third when defenceman Mark Stuart, playing in relief of an injured and ill Ben Chiarot, scored his first goal of the season in what was the first game action for Stuart since Nov. 29.

Stuart’s goal gave the Jets some life and a late push ensued, with Blake Wheeler making it a one-goal game with 90 seconds remaining, tipping in a point shot from Nikolaj Ehlers with the Jets’ net empty for the extra attacker.

But it was all too little, much too late.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek