Not good enough to get cocky

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/12/2014 (4020 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT’S an interesting question, given the playoff drought that has followed this franchise from its days in Atlanta to three-plus years Winnipeg.

It goes like this: How does this Jets squad – 4-0-1 in its last five; 13-5-4 since opening the season with four losses in the first five games – not get all fat and sassy with itself?

Or, as its old boss Claude Noel used to caution, not separate their shoulders patting themselves on the back?

‟I don’t think Paul (Maurice) lets us get too comfortable,” said Jets defenceman Jacob Trouba Saturday. ‟He keeps us on our toes and he knows what it takes to keep winning. You’ve got to win more than a couple games in a row to be good. You can’t get comfortable.

‟We have to keep playing our game, which is an underdog game, and keep playing hard.” For the record, the Jets/Thrashers franchise is in the midst of the second-longest playoff drought in the NHL, now at seven years. Only the Edmonton Oilers, who have been absent from the Stanley Cup derby for eight springs, have endured a longer drought.

Worth noting is the Thrashers were swept four straight in their only playoff appearance in franchise history in 2006-07; the Oilers, meanwhile, lost in Game 7 of the 2005-06 Stanley Cup final.

In other words, to suggest this Jets team would be feeling overly confident, given its history, is almost laughable. Except… we’ve seen this movie before with this bunch. They go on a roll, folks begin talking/writing about them taking the proverbial next step in the transformation from playoff wannabe to participant… and then they promptly fall flat on their mugs.

‟That’s happened in the past, but this year is a totally new year,” said Mark Scheifele.

‟It seems like a different group of guys this year. We’re set on our system, we’re all playing for each other and that’s why we’ve been successful – every guy has bought into the system, has bought into playing for each other, and we’ve just got to continue with that attitude.

‟Everyone wasn’t satisfied with last year and Paul instilled it in our mind that we could have been better, we could have been in the playoffs. That’s what we want this year. We want to be a playoff team, we know we can be a playoff team. Everyone took that motivation this summer, worked their butts off and came in this year and was ready to get at it right away. I think it’s showed so far this season.” Maurice gets a ton of credit for the message he sent last year about conditioning and the daily expectations of being a pro. What has happened since the early stumble at the start of the season has been a complete buy-in to the defensive system and the understanding it has to form the base to their game, even on those nights when the group is misfiring.

Case in point: The Jets are 7-2-4 in one-goal games this year; a year ago they were 17-14-6. The defensive numbers are also impressive: From allowing 2.82 goals per game (22nd overall) last year to 2.15 per game (fourth overall) so far this year.

Again, though, here’s where the cautionary part of this tale has to be broached – the Anaheim Ducks are in town today and they’re level of play is considerably higher than Columbus, Buffalo, Edmonton and Colorado, whom the Jets just racked up wins against in their 4-0-1 run.

‟The difference comes from playing hungry, right?” said Maurice.

‟Play hungry until you’re full. I don’t sense (a letdown) here and I really haven’t all year. We’ve played a pretty darn consistent game. Our effort, more than anything else, has been very consistent. We’ve played some good hockey, especially recently, and even going back to the two losses to Detroit and St. Louis.” Maurice is sure the club won’t be separating any shoulders patting themselves on the back, now or in the future. There are a lot of level heads in the locker-room, he points out, and even with the intensity levels being so high, his players will keep a fairly even keel.

‟You look at the (makeup) of this team… I’m not sure it’s that they get happy. It’s that the emotional swings are so great with every win and loss when you’re fighting for your life that you take that deep breath,” he said.

‟The win feels so good because the losses feel so horrible… it’s must-win games starting in October. It’s more they take a deep breath because of all of the emotion and the pressure that is built into each game… especially if you’re not 100 per cent sure why you’re winning and why you’re losing and that’s not a foundation to your game and you’re playing that pure skill game. It looks so good some nights and you say ‘Why can’t you play like that every night?’ So then you start talking about consistency with a team. That game isn’t played by anybody every night.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait