Maurice counts the way Jets miss Little

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This article was published 16/10/2016 (3261 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Adjusting to life without Bryan Little is going to be a process for the Winnipeg Jets.

The 28-year-old was injured in the first period of Winnipeg’s 5-4 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricans in their season opener Thursday after colliding awkwardly with ’Canes forward Bryan Bickell.

The veteran centre was subsequently ruled out long-term Friday morning and was sorely missed — both offensively and defensively — in Saturday night’s 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Wild, as outlined Sunday morning by Jets head coach Paul Maurice.

As an example, Maurice singled out a specific play in Saturday night’s game.

With two of his centres unavailable at the time — Adam Lowry was in the penalty box for cross-checking and Mark Scheifele was tending to a slashed skate lace on the bench, it was up Alexander Burmistrov to win a crucial faceoff on his weak side in the defensive zone. 

What happened?

Burmistrov was muscled away from the pick by Wild centre Mikko Koivu, allowing Wild winger Chris Stewart to feed the puck back to defenceman Matt Dumba, who unleashed a slapshot from the point that went in behind Jets goalie Michael Hutchinson to tie the game at 2-2.

“When you don’t have Bryan in the lineup, you have fewer options to move your lines around,” Maurice said.

The sequence took just four seconds off the clock but Maurice said it’s an example of the what’s missing in the Jets’ defensive side of the game game when a player such as Little isn’t available.

“How long you spend in your own end isn’t just about the two guys playing defence,” Maurice said.

“It’s how the centre and those two react, so positioning yourself in the right spots. So much of that is experience, and we miss that.

Maurice said Little’s and Burmistrov’s faceoff percentages aren’t that different, but it was the first time in a long time Burmistrov has taken a draw.

“Alex is getting back into the centre circle for the first time and (Mathieu) Perreault didn’t take a lot of faceoffs last year, so we missed that,” said Maurice.

“Down a goal, we missed him… Bryan’s one of our leading scorers, so we miss the offence he generates.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca          

Twitter: @scottbilleck