Jets do their own thing in loss

Opinion

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This article was published 15/04/2022 (1246 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dave Lowry keeps preaching about what it takes to have success in the NHL — only to watch his Winnipeg Jets, time and time again, hit the ice, throw caution to the wind and do their own thing.

They are, in a sense, the children who keep touching the hot stove despite being warned by their parents of the perils. Sure, they might get away with such stubborn ignorance against some of the lesser lights in the league. But it will absolutely burn them against heavyweights like Florida.

Such was the case on Friday night, where a 6-1 loss to the Panthers might actually have flattered the Jets. Yeah, it was that bad. And after the game, Lowry had seen just about enough.

“I think we look at the results here tonight,” a dejected Lowry began in his post-game Zoom conference from FLA Live Arena. “Obviously it’s extremely disappointing. We talked about details, what we were going to have to do. And we got caught up in trying to play a rush game, and that wasn’t going to play in our favour.”

Translation: We thought we could play fast and loose against one of the best teams in the league. And boy, were we wrong.

“Honestly, if I had an answer to that question, we would have been able to fix that,” a frustrated Nikolaj Ehlers said in response to why he and his teammates keep making the same mistakes over and over again. “We’ve done this all season. We’ve had so many bad starts and like I said, if we knew the reason, it would have been fixed a long time ago.”

The lopsided loss leaves Winnipeg (35-29-11) eight points out of the final Western Conference wildcard spot, now with just seven regular-season games remaining. If there was any hope of a miracle down the stretch, it was quickly snuffed out by the high-flying Panthers who scored early, and often, to remain on top of the Eastern Conference at 53-15-6.

Lowry, the interim bench boss who took over for Paul Maurice in mid-December, is clearly growing frustrated by the fact his message is apparently falling on the same deaf ears that led the veteran coach to tender his resignation.

“Well I think the biggest reason, the why behind it, is because it’s not pretty hockey,” Lowry said of his club straying from the right path. “It’s functional. It wins hockey games. And they are critical details. When you’ve been a rush team, you want to continue to try and make plays. And the biggest thing for us right now is when we have our success, we put pucks in behind, we play in straight lines, we play direct going through the neutral zone.”

The Jets, not surprisingly, did none of that against the Panthers. And for a club that has been challenged in the defensive areas of its game, facing hockey’s highest scoring team turned out to be a major mismatch. Florida topped five goals for a whopping 30th time this year, including both head-to-head meetings with the Jets (they won 5-3 at Canada Life Centre on Jan. 25).

“Everyone wants to score a pretty goal. Everyone wants to be a team that makes highlight-reel plays. The big thing for us is that the way we have to play to be successful is we have to play direct and we have to play in straight lines,” Lowry said.

This was Winnipeg’s first game since last Monday, as a scheduled Wednesday tilt with Seattle was postponed due to the spring snowstorm that hit River City. As a result, the Jets chartered down to south Florida on Tuesday afternoon to beat the storm, and they sure looked like a team that had spent a bit too much time in the sun once they finally returned to action.

Jonathan Huberdeau, who trails only Connor McDavid for the NHL’s points lead, opened the scoring just 123 seconds into the game, then doubled the lead just over two minutes later.

“We didn’t come out ready to play,” Ehlers admitted. “Our line goes out there the first two shifts and we get scored on and that’s just straight up not good enough. With the position that we’re in, you can’t do that. They’re obviously a great team and we weren’t good today. With a team like that, that is buzzing in their own building, they’re going to take advantage of a team that’s not playing the right way.”

It actually could have been a lot worse. Florida had two other goals overturned in the opening frame — one on a successful goalie interference challenge, and one on a high-stick. They also rang one off the crossbar. However, it only delayed the inevitable

Gustav Forsling, a waiver wire pickup by the Panthers, potted a pair in the second period to make it 4-0, which also ended the night for Jets starter Connor Hellebuyck. He was given the mercy pull after 40 minutes, beaten four times on 26 shots. Backup Eric Comrie didn’t fare any better, surrendering goals to Mason Marchment and Maxim Mamin in the final frame. Veteran Claude Giroux, a shrewd pickup at the trade deadline, chipped in with three assists.

Ehlers had the lone tally for Winnipeg, his 26th of the year early in the third period.

“At this point of the year, we’re pushing for a playoff spot. That’s why we’re not in a playoff spot. We haven’t played the right way in a lot of games and you see what that leads to,” said Ehlers. “I think the easy way to put it is that we’re just not playing the type of hockey that the Jets want to play and the type of hockey that, you know, you can hold everyone accountable for. And it’s just… It sucks. It absolutely sucks.”

The Jets entered play having won two straight over lowly Ottawa and Montreal. Safe to say the competition was ramped up a few notches, with Florida being a legitimate Stanley Cup contender — some might say favourite — and having few, if any, weaknesses.

Captain Blake Wheeler and forward Jansen Harkins both returned from injury, replacing Adam Brooks and Mikey Eyssimont in the lineup. Mark Scheifele missed a second straight game with a shoulder injury.

Life doesn’t get any easier for Winnipeg, who face two-time defending champion Tampa Bay on Saturday. The road trip wraps next week against the New York Rangers and Carolina, who are also comfortably in playoff positions. Then it’s back home for the final four, starting with the only team currently with more points than Florida – the Colorado Avalanche — next Sunday at Canada Life Centre. In other words, this things could quickly go from bad to worse if they don’t clean up their act.

“When you don’t play the right way. When it’s not going for you and you keep trying to push the nice plays and all of that. You’re just, you know, putting your team in a tough position,” said Ehlers.

“And it’s not just one or two guys. It’s almost everyone. … I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s just we’re not playing the right way. We’ve got to find a way (Saturday) and that’s what we’re gonna do. When we play the right way, we’re a great team. And we haven’t shown that enough. So we’re going to show that.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg