Duct tape Jets’ secret weapon

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/03/2015 (3839 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Throw out the Corsi, save percentage and nifty saucer passes. Get out the duct tape and rubber bands and hope like hell it will all hold together. This isn’t going to be art. More like mud wrestling.

Were the Winnipeg Jets a race horse, the vet may have offered ownership the kindness of a humane ending. But with pulling up lame and leaving the race not an option, we’re going to witness a team robbed of depth and strength trying to get across the finish line.

It might be painful and ultimately disappointing.

It might be a glorious feat of will overcoming adversity.

That was the Jets in Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning and it is who they will need to be for at least a little longer.

If you were hoping for an easy glide to the finish line, prepare to be disappointed. Limping and maybe even crawling might be required.

Late Saturday the Jets were a satisfied bunch. They had reason to be. In the nearly four seasons since they’ve returned to Winnipeg, this win might qualify as their best from a team perspective. As head coach Paul Maurice said after the game, “Everybody had a hand in this.”

It was impressive from the perspective of a group coming together. Everyone did the little bits and some unexpected men took larger bites than anyone might have suspected.

If this were the start of the season and the task was completing an 82-game schedule with the current lineup, the playoffs would be an impossibility.

Can they scrape by with what they have, and do enough over the next 13 games to get in the playoffs? Figure on them needing eight wins to get in. Give or take.

It won’t be easy and it won’t be anything near the plan dreamed up by Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. It will be meatball surgery. Like trying to fix something with the wrong tools. Like putting together IKEA furniture without the Allen key. Maybe you get lucky and it all comes together. Or maybe you own a coffee table with no legs.

The injuries are numerous, but more damaging is in the areas in which they’ve come. Maurice iced a team Saturday without its No. 1 centre, power-play catalyst and three of his top-six defencemen.

Throw in a pair of goalies who both have sub-.900 save percentages since the all-star break and the recipe for success is short at least half the ingredients.

Clichés bounce around like Superballs this time of year. No quit. Team effort. Gutsy group. They all stuck to the Jets on Saturday.

Paul Postma endured 27 consecutive healthy scratches before playing more than 23 minutes on Saturday. Rookie Adam Lowry centred his team’s top line and drew Steven Stamkos as his defensive assignment. Eric O’Dell, who has spent most of his career in the AHL, worked on the fourth line while veteran Jim Slater moved up from the fourth to the third. Journeyman Jay Harrison saw time on the power play. Maligned goalie Ondrej Pavelec stepped in just a few days after the most embarrassing moment of his career and earned a win.

Tuesday night brings the San Jose Sharks to Winnipeg and these ordinary Jets will need another night in superhero costumes. And so it will be until health and reinforcements arrive. If they ever do.

Months have turned to weeks and soon it will be just days left in this season.

The Jets are no longer doing it on talent. Not size or speed. Necessity has seen them cross over from individuals into a team. Little pieces coming together and doing more than they should.

We watch them every night. We know their warts better than anyone else. And sometimes it’s easier to focus on the shortcomings of the people we know best.

A healthy and complete lineup is more impressive and more effective.

But there’s something to like and admire about who the Jets are right at this moment. Playoffs or not.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @garylawless