Caps catch Jets napping

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This article was published 11/12/2022 (1009 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s usually never a good idea to take a nap in the middle of your workday. And the Winnipeg Jets were reminded of that Sunday night after a second period that was the stuff of nightmares.

A four-goal explosion by the visiting Washington Capitals blew a tight-checking game wide-open, paving the way for an eventual 5-2 victory at Canada Life Centre.

The Jets woke up in the final frame and made it interesting, but it was too little, too late as their quest for a fifth straight win came up short.

“Some nights it’s not your best game, and tonight was one of those nights,” said forward Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Winnipeg falls to 18-8-1 and remains tied for first in the Central Division with the Dallas Stars. Washington improves to 14-12-4.

Let’s splash a bit of water on our faces and take a long, hard look in the mirror at where this one went wrong.

1) It’s pretty easy to identify the turning point. After Trevor van Riemsdyk (3:25) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (8:21, on the power play) had both scored on Connor Hellebuyck in the second period, opportunity came knocking for the Jets when Lars Eller caught Dylan DeMelo in the mug with a high-stick near the midway mark.

A four-minute power play and the chance to grab some momentum was staring them in the (bloody) face.

But some poor puck management in the offensive zone led to a Marcus Johansson shorthanded breakaway, a Josh Morrissey slash and a penalty shot that turned into a 3-0 goal at 9:55.

“At times this year the power play has been there for us and given us a chance to win or won games for us. Other times, like tonight, it’s just not good enough,” said Dubois. “We had a huge opportunity tonight. And we let the team down for that.”

Overall, Winnipeg’s power play went 0-for-3, while Washington went 1-for-2 with the man advantage.

Eller, freed from the sin bin, then added insult to injury when he made it 4-0 at 15:24. The shots in the period were 15-3 at that point.

“Clearly the coverage on their first goal was a complete breakdown for us. Power play hurt us, you get a four-minute and give up the breakaway and the penalty shot, it kind of sets you on your heels a little bit against a veteran hockey club,” is how Jets coach Rick Bowness described the meltdown.

That was pretty much all she wrote. Except…

2) The Jets actually strung a few good shifts together late in the frame, to the point coach Bowness pulled Hellebuyck with 10 seconds left and his team with an offensive zone faceoff. He also loaded up a line with top scorers Morrissey, Dubois, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Neal Pionk, plus Blake Wheeler, for the high-risk six-on-five.

“A lot of it has to do with how you’re playing at that particular time. If you’re on your heels and you’re not winning face-offs, you don’t do that. When you feel there is energy, we’re winning face-offs, we’re making plays, that’s a good time to try that,” said Bowness.

It didn’t result in a goal, but we like the aggressive approach. And the “old school” coach, utilizing some “new school” tactics, used that as a springboard during his intermission pep talk.

“We can score. Especially the way we finished the last four or five minutes of that second period,” said Bowness.

“There has been a lot of comebacks in this league. We didn’t go into that third period on our heels thinking ‘this game is over.’ We thought we still had a chance.”

3) Indeed, they did. A great opening shift by Winnipeg’s third line resulted in Adam Lowry finally solving Washington goalie Charlie Lindgren just 35 seconds in. It’s the seventh of the year for Lowry, who is on his way to obliterating the career high of 15 goals he set in 2016-17 over 82 games.

Speaking of milestones, Morrissey took the initial shot that led to the rebound Lowry swept in, giving him 26 assists through 27 games. That ties his career high set over 65 games in 2019-20.

Dubois then cut the deficit to 4-2 when he scored his 14th of the year at 3:29, finishing off a great passing play involving linemates Michael Eyssimont and Connor.

Dubois had to seriously choke on his twig to one-time the feed

“I think that was mini-sticks. When I used to get a mini-stick, I’d put it on the stove and put a little curve on it and then go play in the basement,” said Dubois.

“It was a nice pass by KC, but it was a little in front. It was either a torn groin or I made the stick a bit shorter, so I went with the second option.”

4) Just when it looked like an epic comeback might be in the cards, the Great Eight put any hope to bed when he buried an empty-netter with just over two minutes to play.

It’s the 797th career goal for Alex Ovechkin, who is now just four shy of tying “Mr. Hockey” Gordie Howe for second all-time in NHL history. Wayne Gretzky is the current record-holder with 894.

“He’s going to get his chances, he’s going to get his shots. He’s a good player. But for the most part I thought we kept him at bay,” Pionk said of Ovechkin, who finished with nine shot attempts, but only three on net.

Pionk felt his club didn’t do a good enough job of fighting through an effective neutral zone trap utilized by a Capitals team still without several injured players including Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, Carl Hagelin and starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper.

“Yeah they clogged it up a bit. They caused us to make a few turnovers. But they play with pace and capitalized on our mistakes,” he said.

“One thing led to another in the second period, so when we spot a team four goals it’ll be tough to come back from.”

5) Scheifele wasn’t very happy following the dagger, believing Ovechkin had slashed him prior to scoring. He was screaming at officials, who gave him a 10-minute misconduct.

It’s the second such reprimand for Scheifele this year, which is quite something for a guy who hasn’t uttered a swear word in his life.

Whatever he’s saying is obviously pointed, even if it’s not profane.

6) Up next: The Jets continue a three-game homestand with the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights in town on Tuesday. It’ll be a clash of the top two teams in the Western Conference.

“We’re a good team. We’re in first place for a reason. We’ll bounce back,” Bowness said of quickly putting this one in the rear-view mirror.

“We know we haven’t played well against Vegas (a regulation loss and overtime loss in two previous meetings in Sin City this year). We played terrible the two games in there. We got a really good team coming in again and we know we’re a lot better than tonight, a lot better than what we showed in Vegas. Now, we’ve got to bounce back.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg