Jets can’t win from the sin bin

Opinion

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This article was published 19/02/2015 (3864 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It has gone beyond surreal. Beyond ridiculous. Beyond stupid. And way beyond troubling.

Another loss for the Winnipeg Jets where lack of discipline was the key factor. The visiting Jets fell 5-1 to the Washington Capitals on Thursday with the winners going three-for-six on the power play.

It would be one thing if the Jets were being penalized for an aggressive style that led to other areas of domination. But that’s not what is happening. The Jets take bad penalties. Offensive-zone penalties and stick infractions. The easy ones to prevent.

The rap sheet read as follows on Thursday: five tripping penalties and one too-many-men.

No boarding or charging calls, which sometimes result from a hard forecheck. This isn’t about a team fuelled by anger and being vicious. This has gone well beyond any reputation calls against. This is preventable. It can be coached out of a team. Instead it has been allowed to continue.

“We’re going to spend some more time killing penalties,” head coach Paul Maurice said a while back when quizzed about his team and all their penalties. “It’s who we are. It’s what we do.”

Maurice, no doubt, would like those words back. On the surface, they appear to give his club an out. To take them off the hook. Maybe behind closed doors, Maurice has delivered a different message. If so, it hasn’t been heard.

The Jets have taken a league-worst 334 penalties and 290 of them have been minors. That’s 35 minors more than the Pittsburgh Penguins, who happened to be the next closest offenders.

The Jets’ penalty kill percentage has dropped to 80.4 per cent for 20th in the NHL.

They’ve allowed 94 goals against in five-on-five situations, which is sixth in the league and the kind of mark that denotes a playoff team. But in four-on-five situations the Jets are a mess, allowing 40 goals against which ranks 27th in the league.

In total, the Jets have allowed 49 power-play goals, which is tied for worst in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres.

Winnipeg’s goaltenders are getting crushed in short-handed situations, with Michael Hutchinson allowing 20 power-play goals for an .863 save percentage while Ondrej Pavelec owns an .861 after giving up 29 goals while the Jets are down a man or more.

Maurice made the comment last season it was impossible to judge his goaltending until the entire team began playing the proper defensive style. Well, Hutchinson and Pavelec share a team save percentage of .911. It would certainly be better if the duo weren’t getting shelled on the penalty kill.

The goalies in Winnipeg have faced unnecessary pressure.

The Jets’ five-on-five goals for and against ratio is 10th in the NHL at 1.11. Their power-play goal differential, however, is minus-13, which is again second worst in the league ahead of only the Sabres. The Jets have scored 36 power-play goals and allowed 49 power-play goals against. How many losses has this resulted in? More importantly, perhaps, is how many more games will it cost the Jets?

Everything Maurice has preached in terms of team defence and limiting goals against is being undermined by his team’s lack of discipline where stick infractions are concerned.

It’s killing them. The players must stop it. Maurice must make them change their ways.

It can’t be who they are.

Not if being a playoff team is also who they intend to be.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @garylawless