Step in the right direction

Opinion

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This article was published 13/02/2022 (1301 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They’re far from out of the woods. But the Winnipeg Jets at least appear to have found their footing. All it took was a return to some familiar ground.

That would be the Central Division, where the hockey club proved over the past couple weeks they’re not ready to go quietly into the night and get left behind by their long-time rivals.

A rock-solid 4-1 victory in St. Louis. An impressive 2-0 shutdown of high-flying Minnesota. A gutsy late comeback in Dallas that ended with a 4-3 overtime defeat. And a 5-2 win in Nashville less than 24 hours later.

Four tough opponents, all currently ahead of them in the standings. And a 3-0-1 record to show there’s still some fight, figuratively and at times literally, in this group.

Jets captain Blake Wheeler, who basically said “follow me, fellas” with a five-point performance on Saturday night against the Predators, agreed with my post-game suggestion to him that this was a bit of a statement stretch by his squad.

“I think so. The (All-Star) break gave us a little bit of time to look in the mirror and everyone felt like each guy individually had more to give,” he said.

No doubt what they saw in the reflection wasn’t very flattering.

The Jets, you’ll recall, followed up the strong outing in St. Louis with a dud a few nights later in Philadelphia, giving the impression they weren’t quite ready for prime time. One step forward, another one back.

But there was no such roller-coaster ride this past week, with three consecutive, consistent efforts that were desperately needed. That Flyers game is now the lone regulation loss over the past five overall, and the only game outside their division in that span.

“We kind of sagged a little bit there for a while. Injuries, Covid, all of the circumstances kind of got the best of us,” Wheeler explained to me of why he thinks his troops lost their way.

“It was a good time to have a little gut check and like I said, we’ve had a lot of guys step up to the plate here and boost our hockey team and make us a tough team to play against. We feel like if we give our goalie the opportunity to make saves, he’s going to make all of the saves. From there, we’ve just got to button some things down and we’ve done that here since the break. It’s a good little confidence boost going forward and hopefully we can keep building on it at home.”

Given the big hole they’ve dug for themselves with a spotty first half, there’s no time to put their skates up and relax. There’s a lot of miles to go before they can sleep.

A new week presents a new challenge, but also new opportunity. Four games in six days at Canada Life Centre, including the first two against Central foes. Chicago visits tonight, followed by a rematch with mighty Minnesota on Wednesday in which capacity at the downtown barn is back to 100 per cent. Given the fireworks during last Tuesday’s bout, that should be a ton of fun.

“I think what it shows is that if we play the game right, if we play the game a certain way…usually this division brings out the best in our game,” interim coach Dave Lowry said when I asked him Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena why these Central clashes have been clutch for his club.

“You put emotion in the game, you put the physical component in a game, and it draws a lot of guys in. And I’ve really liked the way we played.”

The Jets need to start taking big strides outside their division as well. Seattle comes to town Thursday, and Edmonton comes to town Saturday afternoon to round out the important homestand.

With 37 regular-season games remaining over the next 75 nights, catching the Central top four of Colorado, Minnesota, St. Louis or Nashville remains unlikely. That leaves the second Western Conference wildcard spot as the only other way to be playing meaningful spring hockey. Winnipeg is now within seven points of that spot, which is currently held by Anaheim. They also have four games in hand on the Ducks.

However, Dallas, Edmonton and Vancouver are all currently ahead of the Jets while also being on the wrong side of the postseason line, so there’s plenty of competion over these last couple months.

Nikolaj Ehlers will hopefully be back in a few weeks to provide an additional boost, while depth defencemen such as Logan Stanley and Nathan Beaulieu, and young forward David Gustafsson are also closing in on return from injuries to give Lowry plenty of options while also keeping everyone on their toes with internal competition.

Regadless of who’s in the lineup on any given night, the one thing this group can control is its work ethic, which has noticeably picked up. Along with a sense of desperation and urgency that shouldn’t be confused for panic.

“I think we know the reality in front of us is that we can’t lose too many games here,” Jets centre Pierre-Luc Dubois told me following the big victory over the Predators.

“Obviously, the Central, you get two points in regulation, you get two points closer to the team in front of you. But every game is going to be important, every point is gonna be important. It sucks to lose against Dallas the other night but to get that point is huge. It looks like at the end of the year it’s going to be one or two points that separates between you making the playoffs and not making them and maybe it’ll be two points separating you from fifth from making the playoffs to having that second wild-card spot. So, every game is going to be important. Obviously, Central games are a little bonus points if you get the two. But we know what we have ahead of us here.”

A couple weeks ago, the Jets couldn’t see the forest for the trees. But now, at least, they appear to have figured out a roadmap for success. They’ve got a compass. And a pulse.

The trick is to remain focused and stay on course. Otherwise, they’ll likely find themselves lost in the wilderness once again, this time for good.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg