Playing .500 ain’t gonna cut it

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This article was published 09/12/2016 (3200 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets are one game under .500 and had a precarious hold on the final wild-card playoff spot in the NHL’s Western Conference heading into Friday’s action.

There is no comfort here.

“If we just go out and play our game, that’s no ticket to the playoffs,” head coach Paul Maurice said before the Jets departed for back-to-back road games in Calgary tonight and Edmonton Sunday.

“We’ve gotta get better by the end of the year, we’ve gotta have all pieces of our game flying in the right direction and we need everybody, or mostly everybody, in our lineup on a more continuous basis. Then, we’ve got a pretty good team.”

Winnipeg has shown some encouraging signs lately.

Before a pair of home losses — they dropped a 4-3 shootout decision to the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday and a 2-1 result to the New York Rangers Thursday — the Jets stormed through two Central Division foes on the road, beating the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks on consecutive nights.

Now they’ll try to do it again.

“Those were as close to two perfect road games as you’re going to get — we went into two buildings like St. Louis and Chicago and (found) ways to win,” said centre Adam Lowry. “We know the Flames are playing really well right now and Edmonton always poses a really good challenge — they probably have the best player in the league right now (centre Connor McDavid). We’re going to have to find a way to win in both.”

Winnipeg’s 13-14-3 record is nothing to crow about, but a brutally tough schedule and a blizzard of injuries to key personnel have threatened to overwhelm the club currently listed as the NHL’s youngest, with an average age of 25.6.

“We wouldn’t be bragging about it, but on the schedule alone we might be able to understand it,” Maurice said. “We’re at about 130 games lost (to injury), we could be very easily 10 to 15 points out of it and it would be over. We’ve got two more games to get through this… the schedule, the injuries more than anything else have really, really hurt us and we’ve stayed in the fight.

“I wouldn’t say I’m pleased with where we’re at, but I’m not pleased we’re that beat up and I don’t like our schedule at all. I’ve never seen one like it… you just have to get used to it and deal with it.”

Veteran forward Mathieu Perreault, who has missed 14 games with an injury, doesn’t sound rattled.

“It would be fair to say it’s been not bad,” Perreault said. “Obviously, not where we wanted to be at but we’re still right there. There’s 52 games left in the season, and we’re just about to be a .500 team. I think we have more to give and we can get better.”

Special teams and goaltending, Maurice said, are works in progress and the tandem of Connor Hellebuyck and Michael Hutchinson has been improving.

“Goaltending’s got to get better,” he said. “Penalty kill, power play — those three aspects of our game have to improve. We’re seventh or eighth (overall) in shots against, even-strength.

“You can’t watch the game (Thursday) and fault Hutchy. He made a bunch of saves, they missed a bunch of plays to our net. I think our goaltending in the second 15 block (of games) has been better than the first 15 block, so I think it’s trending in the right direction.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sawa14