Power play addressed before road trip

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This article was published 06/10/2017 (2898 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets focused Friday on the finer points of their game after gutting out a gruelling on-ice session 24 hours earlier that left many players hunched over and gasping for breath.

Head coach Paul Maurice designed a practice at Bell MTS Iceplex with plenty of quickness drills in mind early on, but went heavy on special teams work for the final 30 minutes, prior to the team’s departure for Calgary.

The Flames host the Jets tonight at 9 p.m. at the Scotiabank Saddledome (TSN3-TV, TSN 1290-Radio).

It’s the first of three straight contests on the road for the Jets, who are looking to rebound from a startling 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at a jam-packed Bell MTS Place on Wednesday night.

The events of the night might have unfolded much differently had Winnipeg’s power-play unit — simply merciless in the pre-season — managed to slip a puck or two past Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen during three man-advantage opportunities before the game was 12 minutes old.

Shooting blanks was a momentum-killer for the hosts, who disintegrated defensively and allowed Toronto forwards Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk and William Nylander room to fire back-to-back-to-back tallies in just under three minutes of play before the first period expired.

The Jets finished the night with a whopping eight power-play chances, but came away empty.

While Maurice refused to characterize the final 20 minutes of Thursday’s workout as a “bag skate,” clearly the message was delivered after the ugly defeat to open the 2017-18 regular season.

On Friday, however, it was more about exercising their hockey minds.

Jets centre and alternate captain Mark Scheifele said the approach was expected and appreciated by the group.

“Obviously, after the Toronto game we deserved to skate a little bit. It shows us we don’t wanna do that again. But we worked on some good things (Friday) and, hopefully, got much better,” said Scheifele, who beat Andersen midway through the final frame with Toronto already ahead 6-0.

Scheifele, right-winger Blake Wheeler and defenceman Dustin Byfuglien had the biscuit moving at rapid speed in practice, creating space for sniper Patrik Laine to take a pass and unload in a hurry, with Adam Lowry providing the screen.

“We gotta capitalize on our power play when we get the chances. Look at the start of the game. If we get an early one, it can change the whole outlook of the game,” Scheifele said. “It’s something we always want to be on the right side of instead of the wrong side.

“Any time you go through (a lopsided loss), you gotta learn something. Clearly, what we did didn’t work and the biggest thing for us is put that in the past, know it’s going to take a lot more hard work. This league’s really good and we’re going to play against some really good opponents this upcoming road trip and you gotta put it behind you and focus on the next one.”

The Flames will be playing their home opener after getting a faceful of Connor McDavid on Wedesday night in a 3-0 shutout loss to the host Edmonton Oilers. McDavid, the NHL’s most valuable player last season, ripped a hat trick in the Battle of Alberta.

The Jets will get an up-close-and-personal look at the young superstar Monday at Edmonton’s stunning Rogers Place before heading to Vancouver for a meeting with the Canucks on Thursday.

Winnipeg mismanaged just about every aspect of their defensive game against Toronto and left goalie Steve Mason out to dry numerous times, although he, too, had a shaky ’17-18 debut.

Maurice said when the power play failed to cash in and the Leafs scored first, there were signs of panic from a squad still not accustomed to winning on a consistent basis.

“It was the score of the game (that) dictated how we played defensively and that’s a mistake. That’s got to get corrected. We had a player fall down and run over our goalie on the first goal — you just get over it. It’s a bad break. I didn’t think on (Leafs goals) two and three — three especially — that we had the right mindset.

“That’s consistent around the league of a team that doesn’t have a lot of winning on its side, and wants to. It’s not that they’re not trying. They’ve just got to get everything back on one shift. They haven’t won enough to have confidence to run their own game. And every year it’s a brand-new team. You can win two Stanley Cups in a row and have a tough night. It happens.”

The final comment was a reference to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were stung 5-4 in overtime Wednesday by the St. Louis Blues and then got smacked 10-1 by the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.

Maurice was blunt the day before, suggesting the club cannot move forward if it can’t properly defend. Jets winger Mathieu Perreault said the directive isn’t falling on deaf ears.

“That’s been (the message) all training camp, too. We’ve been talking about that. It didn’t show in the first game, but I think we’re going to move on from that game,” said Perreault, the other Winnipeg scorer Wednesday. “Whether you lose 7-2 or 1-0 the first game, we see it as a loss, a loss of two points.

“We’re focusing on the next two points. Obviously, we have to be better defensively and we’re working on that.”

Jets centre Matt Hendricks remains on the injured reserve list with a lower-body injury. Nic Petan, a healthy scratch in the home opener, took line rushes with Lowry and Shawn Matthias and is expected to play in Calgary.

Marko Dano appeared to be the 13th forward in Friday’s practice, while Ben Chiarot and Tucker Poolman were the extra defencemen.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell