Jets’ playoff run ended too soon

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This article was published 21/04/2019 (2330 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. LOUIS — This one is going to sting for a while.

Yes, there was plenty of shock inside the Winnipeg Jets’ room following a surprisingly early playoff exit, a development few predicted when the puck dropped on the 2018-19 season. The club was viewed as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, and that didn’t seem to change despite numerous regular-season stumbles that should have been setting off alarm bells.

Instead, a 3-2 loss on Saturday night in St. Louis sealed their fate, a disappointing 4-2 series defeat to a team that sat in the NHL basement around Christmas.

“Tough to swallow. I think we had really high expectations for ourselves coming into the season. It just feels disappointing right now,” said veteran centre Bryan Little, who compared this feeling to the one last year after being eliminated in the Western Conference final.

“I’d say it’s a bit harder. Obviously, last year was tough, making it that far and feeling like we had a shot at it, but this year, it was the same thing. We felt like we had a good team and pretty much the same team and high expectations for ourselves. I think that’s why it’s disappointing,” he said.

The long search for answers begins today as the Jets gather one final time at Bell MTS Place for exit interviews with coaching staff and management, along with cleaning out their lockers and meeting with the media one final time.

Players were asked late Saturday night what they felt was missing, especially compared to last year’s lengthy post-season run. The consensus, it appears, was a lack of consistent play, especially down the stretch.

“It’s definitely nice entering the playoffs playing really good hockey,” Little said. “I mean, you see it with these guys, you see it with a couple of other teams in the league right now. So, yeah. Last year, I felt like we were a more confident group and playing better going into the post-season, whereas this year, it felt like we were struggling with our team confidence at the end of the year. Struggling to get wins. It’s tough going into the playoffs trying to find that.”

Saturday’s contest, where the Jets fell behind 23 seconds into the game and never recovered, was a microcosm of all that went wrong.

“There’s only going to be one Stanley Cup winner,” said centre Adam Lowry. “It’s going to be disappointing if you don’t win it. Obviously we wanted to go on a run again like we did last year, it’s great for the fans, it kind of rewards them for their support.

“For our players, I think we all believed in the group we had in here. We didn’t envision to be going home this early, so it’s certainly disappointing.”

Perhaps most surprising is the flat reaction from the Jets in Game 6. After all, they’d battled back to win Game 3 and 4 on the road to tie the series, then played a strong Game 5 until a third-period collapse cost them the game. It appears that implosion carried over.

“Right now, I can’t answer that question. You need time to look back and reflect why we’re here right now. It’s disappointing; that’s all I can really say. It’s going to be a long summer,” said defenceman Josh Morrissey,

‘It’s going to bea long summer’– defenceman Josh Morrissey

“The way we ended Game 5 was disappointing. (But) we had a pretty solid day (Saturday). I thought the morning we seemed in good spirits and ready to play. I’m not really too sure, to be honest.”

Goalie Connor Hellebuyck said this story isn’t just about the Jets, but what the Blues were able to do.

“We really shouldn’t point fingers and try to find blame. They’re a good team over there and they played very well. So I guess on this one, unfortunately, we have to tip our caps to them,” said Hellebuyck, who was asked if this is a missed opportunity given the wide-open field remaining in the post-season.

“I don’t know if I’d say ‘missed opportunity’ because any time you lose a series, it’s a missed opportunity. It’s playoffs. It’s the time of year. Every game is an opportunity. Every series is an opportunity. So it’s tough to swallow,” he said.

“Just because we’re deemed Stanley Cup contenders doesn’t mean we have any different feeling than the guys that aren’t. This time of year, everyone is going for the same goal and it feels the same way to lose.”

Captain Blake Wheeler believes his team was able to re-discover its game once the playoffs began, even if the 4-2 series defeat would suggest otherwise.

“You can make every argument that we got the better of most of the first five games. But it doesn’t matter at this time of year. You’ve got to find a way to close it out,” said Wheeler.

“I don’t find any hangover from the way we played down the stretch. If anything, we were playing pretty darn good in this series. That inch here or there was the deciding factor. That’s a big deal. I don’t mean to take any importance away from that. But that was the deciding factor. It wasn’t like we dragged our asses into the series and got beat up.”

And as for another playoff elimination, the captain said it’s a reminder of how difficult it is to go the distance.

“As you go, you really embrace your opportunities. This is my 11th year, and my fifth time in the playoffs. That right there puts it in perspective. We got a lot of things right in this group. Our challenge this summer is finding a way to get that extra inch,” he said.

Coach Paul Maurice said the effort by his team was there right until the bitter end, even if the execution was lacking.

“It’s painful as hell because you think you’re right there. But you got beat by a team who thinks the exact same thing. So we came and earned the points that we earned, the spot that we earned. And they matched it. And we got into a series, they’re a little better in a few areas than we were over the course of five (games), and a hell of a lot better than we were (Saturday night),” said Maurice.

“And that’s what’s going on around the league. We didn’t hit the eighth seed and finish 40 points ahead of these guys. These guys finished with what we did (99 points) and they were a little better.”

As for the inevitable comparisons to last season, Maurice believes a tough schedule caught up with his club,

“I think the team that we had last year ran about seven or eight straight home games in March and didn’t enjoy the east coast and the west coast three times each in the last whatever it was, since the All-Star (break). We were hoping that we could recover, that three days would be enough, a flight day and then two days to get into it. All I know is that they played as hard as they could. It always wasn’t perfect but through five games they competed with whatever had and they hung in as long and we didn’t have it (Saturday),” he said.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg