‘We need to start grabbing our points right now’

CALGARY — Scott Arniel didn’t want to put a label on it.

The head coach of the Winnipeg Jets certainly recognizes the swoon that his team is working through, having lost four of the five games on this road trip going into Saturday’s finale against the Calgary Flames.

Arniel has been around long enough to realize that every season brings its own challenges and stretches of tension, but he also knows how high the stakes are for a group that is searching for some early-season answers as they sit at 10-7 for the season and are suddenly in a battle for a wild-card berth in the Western Conference.

The Jets have earned the benefit of the doubt from Arniel, yet they’ve got to raise their collective level quickly if they want to avoid taking on any more water.

“There isn’t panic and there isn’t a sense of urgency, but we’re in the toughest division in the league,” said Arniel, who put his team through the paces inside the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday afternoon. “And if you happen to look over (at the standings), they’re not losing too many games, the other teams (in the Central). We want to stay in the pack here.

“We can’t wait until December or January and decide it’s time to turn it on. It’s too hard of a league. We need to start grabbing our points right now.”

To say the Jets are a bit of a contradiction right now would be accurate. They’ve got plenty of things going for them, yet the issues that have been plaguing them have lingered too long for Arniel’s liking.

Too many times on this season-long swing the Jets have committed defensive faux pas, either in terms of coverage lapses or puck management concerns.

Thursday’s 5-3 loss to the Seattle Kraken was another prime example.

Three of the five goals allowed were blatant miscues in the defensive zone, one came on the power play and another was scored into an empty net after the Jets missed a glorious chance to tie the game at the other end earlier in the shift.

“Everyone talks about the speed of the game and the skill — which is a fact — (but) what it all comes down to at the end of the day is winning battles in the corners, along the wall, (competing), who is hard at both sides in front of the net,” said Jets defenceman Luke Schenn. “That’s really where the game is won and lost at the end of the day.

“As much as (the game) has changed, it really hasn’t. You go back to those basic things. Win your battles and chip away at it.”

The Jets haven’t lost the ability to win more of those battles, but what’s clear is that they’re not winning enough of them right now.

“It’s no secret the trip hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to. We’ve let a few games slip away,” said Schenn.

“The reality of the schedule right now is you don’t have a lot of time to dwell on things. You have to correct things on the fly and learn from it. A lot of teams are in similar situations. As soon as it feels like you find your footing and your game a little bit, you run into a team and you have an off night — that’s the way it goes.”

After dropping the first three games of the trip on the swing through California, the Jets thought they’d taken a big step towards getting back on track in the 5-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.

Yet they couldn’t follow that up with another strong effort.

The ability to close out games when building leads last season was another part of the DNA that helped the Jets win the Presidents’ Trophy.

Schenn conceded that the identity for the current group has yet to fully form, but he has a good idea of what it’s going to be.

“Defending is the way this team has had success in the past,” said Schenn. “In particular last year, when I got here, I just noticed how hard the guys defend, play the right way with structure, and don’t cheat the game.

“You have skilled guys, but we have guys that are committed to playing the right way.”

On the first day he spoke to the media during training camp, Arniel discussed the need to reinvest in the style that made the Jets so successful.

The desire to win hasn’t waned, though the Jets haven’t done a good enough job of meeting that gold standard on a consistent basis. Until that happens, it’s going to be tough to make up some of the ground the Colorado Avalanche and other teams have made during this slide.

“It starts with being mentally dialled in,” said Jets winger Kyle Connor. “We haven’t played a full 60 (minutes). There’s some glimpses (where) we really liked our game. But, we just kind of fall asleep and we’re not executing. We’re playing slow at times. And (then) it’s tough to get something going.”

One line that has been able to get going during the past couple of games is the one centred by captain Adam Lowry, who has five games under his belt after returning to the lineup after off-season hip surgery.

The trio, that also includes Nino Niederreiter and Alex Iafallo, has produced three goals during the past two games while buckling down at both ends of the ice.

“We’ve always had that line that you can throw out in key situations, to go against other team’s top lines, to stay out of our end of the rink and gain momentum the other way,” said Arniel. “They’ve done it two games in a row. When your big, heavy line and your checking line can do those types of things, it opens up the opportunities for other lines to step up and do things as well.”

LOOSE PUCKS: Jets forwards Morgan Barron and Cole Koepke shed their non-contact jerseys on Friday and were full participants in the workout, though Arniel said they probably won’t be an option to return on Saturday but there would be a good chance for them to be in the lineup for Tuesday’s home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Given the lighter workload in Thursday’s game and the circumstances the Jets find themselves in after dropping four of the past five games, Connor Hellebuyck is expected to be between the pipes on Saturday against the Flames, with Eric Comrie then likely to make his fifth start of the campaign versus the Blue Jackets.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld