Jets bag-skated following loss to Canes

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This article was published 17/02/2016 (3524 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TAMPA, Fla. — It was no run-of-the-mill practice for the Winnipeg Jets today at Amalie Arena.

A warm, sunny Florida day outside was an all-business workout inside on the heels of the team’s sub-par performance Tuesday night in Raleigh, N.C., a 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Jets meet the Tampa Bay Lightning here Thursday night and to prepare for it, they were put through a vigourous 45-minute practice followed by about eight minutes of skating laps and then a stern, one-way conversation with head coach Paul Maurice.

“It was a good practice,” said Jets captain Andrew Ladd. “I think it was probably good for us. It’s obviously what Paul thought was best for us so I hope everyone gets the message.

“I think the message is that that way we’re playing isn’t enough. We’re not giving enough, playing hard enough. There’s another level we need to get to.”

Ladd said that 40 mediocre minutes on Tuesday illustrated that the Jets need to find a better level of game.

“It’s up to every guy in that room individually to prepare mentally and physically for tomorrow night and be ready to play,” he said. “At this point, it’s past the baby-sitting stage. You’re a professional athlete and it’s your job.”

Maurice was selling that narrative hard after today’s practice, that the league’s level of play has gone to another level since the all-star game.

“Everybody works hard,” Maurice said. “The level of compete — and that also relates to execution — that level of play has changed.

“It changed after the all-star break. Tomorrow night will be a perfect example of it. You have the Eastern Conference champions (last season) sitting in ninth. They’re going to play as desperate a hockey game as you’ve seen them play. Similar to the way Carolina, sitting now two points out.

“There’s another level this game gets to and working hard doesn’t get it done. Everybody breaks a sweat in the NHL. For some of them, this is a new experience. I’m not talking about the guys who are wearing the sweater for the first time, the guys in their first tour. Then we have players who have been around a little bit but now they’re in key positions in that pressure so it’s a new experience for a lot of them.”

The coach said the practice was not overly taxing.

“That was hard but that wasn’t over-the-top hard,” he said. “I left them with a chance to compete hard tomorrow.

“But we’ve got to develop that in our players that have been here a while and certainly in our younger players in terms of moving forward as a team.”

Today, defenceman Dustin Byfuglien and centre Adam Lowry were not in practice.

Byfuglien took a skate to the groin area during Tuesday’s first shift and so had a maintenance day. It was the same for Lowry so he can deal with his undisclosed issue.

After Tuesday’s loss, the Jets remained nine points off the Western Conference playoff line with 26 games to play.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca