Jets focused on turning over new leaf vs. Leafs

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This article was published 03/11/2015 (3623 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — Coaching styles vary around the NHL. In some places, head coaches are almost executive coaches, directing their assistants to run a practice and other team activities.

In Winnipeg, Paul Maurice is far from that, almost always taking a hands-on and sometimes-loud role in directing traffic while on the ice.

So while it wasn’t unusual to see the Jets’ head coach running the show Tuesday at the MasterCard Centre in suburban Toronto, there was some extra attention evident in how and what the team did in its workout ahead of tonight’s game at Air Canada Centre against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

A sour 5-1 loss Sunday night in Montreal was the likely cause of the focus.

“Paul was very blunt about what he wanted us to work on out on the ice today,” Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien said. “Just let that (Sunday loss) go. We have to let that go.

“(Tonight’s) a new team, another game. We just have to go out there and do the right things and stick to our game plan and we’ll be OK.”

The Jets took Monday off after their third straight back-to-back-games scenario on the road this season. The team is 4-2-0 on the road so far and goes into a fourth straight back-to-back road series starting tonight and continuing Thursday in Ottawa against the Senators.

“It’s a little different,” Jets winger Blake Wheeler said. “The reward is obviously (Monday), getting to spend the day off, recovering a little bit. As long as you use it to your benefit, get your rest, put some good things in your body, it can be a benefit.”

Getting over the physical issues is something NHL players are good at. What about the execution and mental after-effects of Sunday’s defeat?

“It’s 82 games,” he said. “There’s going to be games like that. Every team goes through it. You’ll have nights where it doesn’t go your way. It’s not about that in the NHL, it’s about how you respond to it, learning from it, getting better and not letting it snowball.”

Wheeler said the Jets’ focus now is isolating that bad outing and getting on with some good ones.

“You just can’t let it snowball,” he said. “I think it’s important to let it hurt for a little bit after the game, spend (Monday) getting over it and then getting back to work and just get back to what we do.”

Maurice, who was more perturbed than usual Sunday night, was back on an even keel after Tuesday’s practice.

He said the game and work ahead matter much more than what happened Sunday.

“(Tuesday’s practice was) more foundational than anything else, getting back to the things we had done 24 hours earlier and done the week prior,” the coach said. “Then understanding that (tonight’s) game is the answer to being able to say burn the tape and leave that one alone.

“That’s all based on(Tuesday’s) practice and (tonight’s) effort.”

Wheeler is a big fan of the tone the coach is setting in this way.

“We have great leadership,” he said. “Paul is great at getting us in the right frame of mind to get back to work, and we don’t evaluate ourselves based on a 5-1 loss. It’s more about what you put into the game, and we didn’t get either result — we didn’t put much into that game and the result wasn’t there either.”

“If we correct that (tonight), even if we don’t get the result we’re looking for, as long as we bring our work ethic, that’s really all we can control.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca