Jets lean on Buff’s leadership in time of need

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This article was published 31/12/2014 (3930 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A brief whiff of panic was allayed by Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice on Tuesday after defenceman Dustin Byfuglien was not in practice at the MTS Centre.

Byfuglien, Maurice assured everyone, was fine and would be in today’s NHL game against the New York Islanders.

The Jets can ill afford any more injuries, though much of the crisis has been patched by Byfuglien’s impactful return to the blue-line.

That’s something opponents just won’t be missing, Maurice suggested on Tuesday.

“So it’s a function of Dustin, no question,” Maurice said. “He’s really taken to the things we’re asking him to do, and our game needs to have happen.

“It’s also a function of the forwards not putting our D in a difficult situation. I don’t know where it spans back. Some of it may be style of play, though Atlanta there was a very offensive, motion-driven team which is a real challenge to be good at offensively.

To play defence in that is very, very difficult.”

Maurice suggested that was one reason many were sour on Byfuglien’s defensive abilities in the previous go-round at the position.

“It wasn’t just Dustin, it was the whole group’s defensive game because he was playing 26, 27 minutes,” he said. “And if you’re chasing games, the reaction may be in the past to create more, create more and he’s capable of it so he would do it.

“And there wasn’t a place to value his defensive game because it wasn’t really valued. I’m sure that’s not completely fair but it didn’t look like it from the video.”

One indication of Byfuglien’s effectiveness in his return to being a defenceman is how many opponents he has irritated in the last month.

“Some penalties he takes is more the violence of the collision than evil intent,” the coach said. “He just goes over you, he’s so big and he’s so strong. But we’re trying to play that tight-gap game, which means he’s going to get into collisions and when you’re that big, you’re going to anger some people.”

There’s been more to Byfuglien the defenceman than physicality, goalie Michael Hutchinson said.

“He’s been amazing,” Hutchinson said. “He’s so vocal back there and that’s really nice to have. He’s always telling players on the ice where to go and who’s open.

“For myself, he does a great job of talking to me. When you lose sight of the puck sometimes, he’s going to let you know exactly where the puck is. Or if there’s a guy open behind you, he’s always talking and that makes the game so much easier.

“Then his play with the puck speaks for itself. He makes those breakout passes look easy and he sometimes looks like a one-man breakout when he gets it and skates with it. It’s nice to have a guy like that back there, who can calm things down and makes sure everyone plays within their means.”

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With Evander Kane’s injury Saturday, the Jets have moved rookie centre Adam Lowry into his spot on one of the power-play units.

The move paid off — Lowry was standing right where he should have been near the crease when Michael Frolik popped in Winnipeg’s first goal Monday night, and the Jets went 2-for-3 with the man advantage.

“It’s always nice to get that extra ice time but it’s unfortunate that it has to come when Evander gets hurt,” said Lowry, who had two minutes 30 seconds on the power play on Monday. “But you try to make the most of every opportunity. Going out there, I just want to continue to help our power play. I think it’s starting to get better in the last 15 or so games and we want to continue to improve it.”

Lowry has done this job before, getting in front of the net and trying to create some darkness.

“In junior, yeah, that was pretty much my role on our power play, to make it hard for the goalie to see and to bang in rebounds in front of the net,” he said. “I didn’t play as much power play last year; I was more of a penalty-kill guy.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca