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Gabe Vilardi was direct and to the point.
“We’ve got to find a way to win hockey games,” the Winnipeg Jets forward said following Monday’s morning skate. “We’re finding ways to lose games right now, and it’s gotta be the other way.”
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Indeed, the Jets are winless in six games to basically take the possibility of starting the playoffs at home off the table. They are now nine points behind the Dallas Stars and six behind the Colorado Avalanche for the top two spots in the Central Division, with only eight regular-season games remaining.
A third-place finish, or even falling to a wildcard spot, is the more likely scenario.
Winnipeg will look to get back on track tonight as they host the Los Angeles Kings, who just went 0-for-Alberta (4-1 loss in Edmonton, 4-2 loss in Calgary) following a four-game winning streak and are clinging to the final Western Conference playoff spot, five points ahead of the St. Louis Blues.
The Jets will have a different look to the lineup tonight. All three defence pairs have been altered, and coach Rick Bowness is also shaking up his top two forward lines. Vilardi will skate with Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers, while Kyle Connor will be with Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli, who is a game-time decision after missing the morning skate due to illness. Cole Perfetti would take his spot if he can’t go.
“It’s a little bit of everything. You’ve got to try different things. We can’t keep running back the same pairs, we can’t keep running back the same lines. That’s enough,” said Bowness. “Six games in a row. It’s nice to say we hung in there and we had a chance, but there’s no moral victories. We have to find a way to get the two points.”
This is the third meeting between the Jets and Kings this year, with each team earning a win in enemy territory so far.
Pierre-Luc Dubois will make his second return to Winnipeg since the blockbuster trade last summer.
“It will be fun. The first time is always the most special. The second time, you kind of get used to it and everything,” Dubois said.
“It’s always fun to see guys that you’ve played against, especially so recently. It will be fun, it will be exciting. My mom is coming to the game. She didn’t come the first time because she didn’t want to hear the boos. I told her that this time, you’re probably still going to hear them. But it will be fun to play in front of her. It’s always special playing in front of your family.”
Laurent Brossoit will start in net for the Jets, while the Kings counter with Cam Talbot.
Make note of the later-than-usual start time tonight, which is apparently due to Sportsnet owing an exclusive window for their Monday Night Hockey broadcast of Toronto vs. Florida that prevents other Canadian games from starting within two hours.
Here’s some other information to get you set:
FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: First off, a shoutout to Winnipegger Ryan Galloway, who will work his final game as an NHL linesman tonight in his own backyard. I had a tremendous chat with the 52-year-old last week for a feature that ran in Saturday’s paper, and he admitted this is going to be an emotional night for him. He’ll have a few hundred family and friends in the building tonight, and I’d expect both the Jets and Kings will line up after the final buzzer to shake his hand and wish him well.
As for the game itself, hopefully the Jets bring a bit more energy than was on display at the morning skate. The joy level wasn’t exactly running at high, which isn’t surprising given the current state of affairs, I suppose. This is a fragile group right now that really needs something – anything – to go right.
“Obviously, nobody’s satisfied with how it’s been going lately,” Kyle Connor said Monday morning. “I think we just need to come together here more than pointing fingers at each other.”
I do like the lineup shuffling, especially putting Ehlers-Scheifele-Vilardi back together. I’m also intrigued by the new-look D pairs. Neal Pionk has struggled mightily lately, so it seems to be putting him with Josh Morrissey is an attempt to shelter him a bit. And getting Dylan Samberg back into the lineup was a no-brainer. As good as Logan Stanley has played, Samberg isn’t the guy who should be healthy scratched in my opinion. Having him beside Dylan DeMelo is new, and I think they could form a very effective shutdown pair against the Kings top line while freeing Morrissey-Pionk up for some softer matchups.
Putting together D-men Dylan Samberg and Dylan DeMelo could be very effective pair against the Kings’ offence, writes Mike McIntyre. (Fred Greenslade / The Canadian Press files)
KEN SAYS: The biggest thing I’m looking for this one is the requisite level of compete, because without it, the Jets will have a hard time snapping this skid.
“Try not to shoot ourselves in the foot, it feels like we’ve done that a lot recently here,” said DeMelo. “Different things in execution, our details, certain areas of our compete levels have not been up to par for this stage of the season.
“At the end of the day, this is all between the ears for our group. Are we willing to do what it takes to win every single night, every single shift?”
The answer has to be yes.
Bowness said he needed more out of certain players after the last loss, then corrected himself in real time saying he needed more from everybody. Clearly, the Jets have made changes to their line combinations and D pairings that they believe can help them get out of this rut.
Dubois has been better of late, collecting seven points during his past eight games to move him to 15 goals and 35 points in 73 contests in his first year with the Kings.
“Whenever you get to a new team sometimes, it can go one of two ways. When I first got to Winnipeg, my first season wasn’t great,” said Dubois. “And that’s probably sugar coating it. It wasn’t good at all. It was frustrating and that’s the first time in my life that happened. So, it was tough. Then I show up here and obviously you want to start off good, but there’s a possibility that it’s rough. I learned a lot from my first year here. I learned that it doesn’t always happen overnight. I’m not panicking.
“My first year in Winnipeg compared to my last year in Winnipeg was two wildly different things. On the ice and off the ice and mentally, it felt so different. I’m not panicking and I’m not nervous. I haven’t lost my game. I haven’t lost who I am. I just needed to get back to that. Sometimes, it’s a little more complicated.”
Keep an eye on Kings’ captain Anze Kopitar, as he’s delivered 15 goals and 35 points in 33 career games against the Jets.
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