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ELMONT, N.Y. — When it rains, it pours.
That’s not only today’s forecast here in New York, which is calling for up to 75 millimetres of the wet stuff as flash flood watches are in effect all over the region. But it also sums up things for the Winnipeg Jets’ opponent this afternoon. No, things are not going swimmingly for the New York Islanders, who have dropped six straight games to essentially wash away their playoff hopes.
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One suspects they’ll be an extra ornery, desperate bunch.
“They’re in a race, they’re a hungry dog,” said Jets associate coach Scott Arniel. “They’re a big team, they’re a heavy team, and they don’t give you a lot of space to work. It’ll be a lot like Jersey (Thursday) night where they clogged up the middle of the ice. We’re going to have to be disciplined and make sure we work to get pucks down in low.”
As for the Jets, they weren’t exactly thrilled with their latest effort either, a 4-2 loss on Thursday night in Newark to the New Jersey Devils. The main source of frustration was the not-so-special teams. The power play went 0-for-4, and the penalty kill gave up three goals on four opportunities.
Not surprisingly, the Jets put in some extra work on it during Friday’s practice.
“Normally, when we work on special teams it’s power play, and that’s kind of the emphasis. (Friday) was the opposite,” said forward Mason Appleton. “The emphasis was on the kill. We cleaned up a couple things we feel will help us sort some stuff out and be able to jump on them a little quicker.”
Winnipeg is expected to make three lineup changes. Connor Hellebuyck will be back in net, defenceman Nate Schmidt draws back in for Colin Miller, and Cole Perfetti gets another chance after four healthy scratches, replacing David Gustafsson on the fourth line.
The Jets will charter to Washington immediately after the game, then wrap up the five-game road trip Sunday (in a rare 11:30 a.m. CT start) against Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals.
Here’s some more information to get you set for today’s matinee:
FROM THE PRESS BOX
Mike says: There’s so much value in being on the road covering the Jets up close and personal, which the Free Press continues to do in a time when many other mainstream media outlets have pulled the plug. And that value was reinforced to me over the past couple of days.
First, there was Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon, moments after Thursday’s tough loss, answering my questions with brutal honestly about what went wrong. There was a reason I had requested Dillon post-game — he’s a straight shooter who tells it like it is, and I suspect I’d get some good soundbites from him.
“Just unacceptable really. We lost the game on special teams,” Dillon began. “We know how important it is on both sides of it, giving your team momentum, a big goal, a big kill at the right time. Our power play, they had a couple of good looks. Their goalie made some good saves. But to give up (expletive) three PK goals is just absolutely unacceptable for us.”
That, folks, is good stuff.
Then Friday, following Winnipeg’s practice, I got several minutes one-on-one with Perfetti. And like I do every time I speak with the young man, I came away impressed with his poise and brutal honesty, as he spoke about being a healthy scratch for the last four games and the mental hurdles he’s facing.
“There’s some been some dark times. There’s been some learning parts from it. I’d be lying if I said it’s been easy,” Perfetti said.
“It’s been tough. I’m hard on myself like everyone else is. It’s pro sports. You don’t get here without being hard on yourself. Going through this for the first time ever in your life isn’t easy. You want to be out there, you want to help the team. You know you can, you know you can offer a lot. We have a really good team. That’s what happens with a really good team. You have a lot of really good players that may not get in the lineup. That’s the case here. Just whenever that opportunity comes I’m going to be ready for it and play my hardest and do what I can.”
There’s been plenty of other examples just on this road trip alone: Ehlers speaking candidly with me about his good buddy, Patrik Laine, when we were in Columbus. Adam Lowry, Josh Morrissey and Mark Scheifele talking with me about Blake Wheeler. Hellebuyck and Brossoit, along with assistant coach Wade Flaherty, discussed in detail the bond they share for a feature I wrote.
These kinds of conversations are honestly my favourite part of this job, and I’m so glad to be in a position to not only have them, but bring them to you.
Brenden Dillon was brutally honest after Thursday night’s loss to the New Jersey Devils. (Jeff Roberson / The Associated Press files)
Ken says: Puck management and poor special teams sunk the Jets in Thursday’s game against the Devils and those are two areas that must show immediate improvement.
I thought the intensity Dillon spoke with following Thursday’s game was important, given the fact the Jets performed nowhere near the standard they’ve set for themselves.
Same goes for Nikolaj Ehlers, who showed great awareness during his breathtaking rush to score the lone goal for the Jets against the Devils. Recognizing he was fresh and the Devils were tired, Ehlers attacked the one-on-four situation and found some available ice to blow past Brendan Smith and beat goalie Jake Allen with a shot through the five-hole for his 21st goal of the season.
It was a rare off night in the faceoff circle for Jets centre Sean Monahan, who won just five of 20 draws (25%), which was well below his season average (55.3%) and his worst outing in 21 games since the trade with the Montreal Canadiens, so one would expect him to rebound in that area on Saturday.
The Jets have been downright dominant against the Eastern Conference this season, in spite of the hiccup on Thursday, going 19-6-4 — including 9-4-1 against Metropolitan Division teams.
The Islanders are 10-10-4 since Patrick Roy took over from Lane Lambert as head coach and they’re in danger of falling out of the playoff race if they can’t string together a winning streak here.
This team isn’t nearly as stingy as they were under Barry Trotz, but they’ve got three players north of 60 points (including team leader Mathew Barzal with 70 in 68 gamess) and a fourth — Brock Nelson of Warroad, Minn. — on the verge of joining them (at 59).
The emergence of D-man Noah Dobson, with a career-high 62 points in 69 games this season, has been an important development and this should be a fun showdown with Jets blue-liner Josh Morrissey (57 points in 69 games). Both Morrissey and Dobson sit second in scoring on their respective clubs while logging important minutes.
Grandview product and former Brandon Wheat Kings captain Ryan Pulock has been limited to 45 games this season because of injury, but he’s been north of 20 minutes of ice time in 15 of the past 16 games, playing primarily on a pairing with Alexander Romanov.
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