Overtime not an easy time for Jets

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This article was published 20/12/2017 (2879 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BOSTON — Their vaunted squadron of top-six forwards is feared across the league and they have an aggressive, mobile defence corps.

And so, it would seem natural to expect that the Winnipeg Jets would be among the NHL’s most effective overtime teams, capable of fully exploiting three-on-three hockey in extra time.

But so far in 2017-18, the numbers haven’t added up.

In six overtime games, Winnipeg has lost five times. It’s small consolation for the Jets they prevailed the only time they survived OT, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in a shootout on Nov. 16.

But some of their OT failures are due to other circumstances; namely, penalties.

“We’ve had three (games) go against us three-on-three, the other two were short-handed,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice prior to Tuesday’s 6-4 victory over the Nashville Predators. “The three that went against us we had full control of the puck and we’re trying to make a real high-end play and it gets knocked down. And that’s three-on-three.

“Each team is going to decide how much risk is in their game and we’ll put out nine guys that think they’ve got enough, that they can make those plays and we let them. We’re open to the offensive idea and it’s stung us a couple of times, but we’re not going to stand three guys in front of the net.”

Left-winger Nikolaj Ehlers loves the wide-open style of three-on-three, but he’s also wary of the risks. Changing more than one player on the fly at any one time, he believes, is probably not advisable.

“You can prepare for it, but I mean it’s three-on-three, there’s so much stuff happening that you never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “You can be on the ice for a minute and a half and not touch the puck because you don’t want to force it and try to jump on someone, and it’s a three-on-two the other way. It’s not easy but it’s a lot of fun.”

Since three-on-three overtime was installed prior to the 2015-16 season, NHL teams are devoting more practice time and video review to three-on-three play, but more prep work doesn’t always result in better finishes in OT.

When injuries depleted his forward ranks earlier in the season, Minnesota Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau opted to use two sets of defencemen during overtime.

“It’s pretty hard if we’re playing Winnipeg, to know that (Blake) Wheeler’s going to wind up or Ehlers is going to wind up and they want to give them the puck because they’re so fast,” Boudreau said. “They try to set (Patrik) Laine up for the one-timer, I mean, that’s probably why it would be better to have two D out there: they would know how to play that part and take you to a shootout.”

The unpredictability of three-on-three seems guaranteed to drive coaches crazy.

“Right now we’re looking at film and making sure you do the right things when you’re out there and shoot pucks when the opportunities are there,” Nashville Predators associate coach Kevin McCarthy said. “A lot of it, too, is making sure you don’t give up those outnumbered situations.”

Easy to say, almost impossible to do. Overtime tends to be wide open and crowd pleasing, with both teams eager for a quick-strike goal.

“It’s hard to coach after the first scoring attempt because that usually ends up, if it’s a two-on-one, then it’s another two-on-one and another two-on-one and you just hope the guys you have out there are good enough to be able to do this,” Boudreau said. “And if you’ve got guys who can skate on defence, you’d rather have a defenceman back there on a two-on-one against than a forward. So that’s probably one of the reasons I went to it at that point.”

Predators centre Kyle Turris believes overtime can be enjoyable, while also achieving the intended effect of reducing the number of games decided by a shootout.

“I find it a lot of fun. I wouldn’t say there’s fear. Whoever’s in control of the puck is at a great advantage,” Turris said. “You hold onto the puck as long as you can, tire the other guys out and buy time to find a hole or for them to make a mistake. You have to keep going back and back, just hold onto the puck.”mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14