Punch-less power play: Drought has Jets searching for extra-man magic

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This article was published 09/11/2015 (3618 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No, it’s not a cause for panic. Yet.

But yes, the Winnipeg Jets are concerned about a once-high-flying power play that is scoreless in four games and has gone from Top 5 in the NHL to a middling 16th heading into a four-game Central Division road trip that begins tonight in St. Paul.

“I think when your power play struggles, you start over-thinking it and you start squeezing the stick a little too much,” Jets centre Bryan Little reflected Monday after practice at the MTS Centre.

“We just need to get back to moving the puck real quick and not waiting for things to open up. If we move the puck quicker and get shots through, things are going to open up for us. Once that happens, it doesn’t take much for the power play to get going.

“I don’t think anyone’s too worried about it right now.”

With an 0-5 performance in a 3-0 loss Saturday night to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Jets are now scoreless in their last 12 power plays and have not notched a power-play marker since Halloween night, when they went 1-3 on the power play in a win in Columbus over the Blue Jackets.

So is it just one of those little mini-slumps specialty units go through from time to time, Jets head coach Paul Maurice was asked Monday?

“It went really good, and then our offence kind of went with it after that first period in Columbus,” Maurice replied. “We feel it’s no different than our penalty-kill unit — it looks a certain way when it’s going: energy level, quickness, confidence, speed.

“I don’t think we were as fast the last two or three games — last four games really — as we have been prior to that. So that’s what today (at practice) was all about — get back to that quickness.”

 

Rooks ready for road swing

Maurice said Monday rookie forwards Andrew Copp and Nic Petan are both healthy again and will be available on the upcoming four-game road trip.

Copp missed four games with an upper-body injury, while Petan missed Winnipeg’s last game with the flu.

Both players were full participants at practice Monday. “I think very probably everyone will be ready to go (versus the Wild on Tuesday),” said Maurice.

Bring it, said Copp. “I feel a lot better than I did. I feel like I’m ready to go,” said Copp. “This is a big four games for us. An early-season matchup to see where we measure up in the Western Conference. I’m excited about the challenge ahead.”

And Petan? “It’s always hard taking a night off and watching, but every time you do that, you learn something new, too,” said Petan. “This is definitely a big trip. They’re all divisional games and that’s huge. And it’s also coming right after our last road trip — which I thought was pretty good. That also makes it big.

“This trip is going to be a little harder (than the last one), but I think we’re ready for it.”

 

Postma paired with Stewie

Paul Postma practised Monday in a defensive pairing with Mark Stuart, suggesting Postma might get to play his second game in a row today after making his season debut Saturday night against Philadelphia.

“We want to get (Tyler) Myers and (Jacob) Trouba some time together,” explained Maurice. “And then we’re just going to audition for that spot with Stewie. A good game probably keeps you in. A great game definitely keeps you in. And short of that, how you practise is important.”

 

Pavs in pipes vs. Wild?

Ondrej Pavelec was the first goalie off the ice at Jets practice Monday, suggesting he might get his second start in a row tonight.

Maurice has mostly alternated his goaltenders this season, but was quick to point out Monday he’s never committed to any “goalie rotation.”

“I never get that far down the road.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek