Jets finding ways to lose

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This article was published 19/02/2023 (933 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEWARK — The Winnipeg Jets have suddenly gone from a team that often found ways to win close hockey games to one that discovers increasingly frustrating ways to lose them.

Case in point: Sunday’s 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils, who rallied with three straight goals in the final frame. This, despite playing 24 hours earlier on the road in Pittsburgh while Winnipeg waited patiently for them enjoying a second straight day off in the Big Apple.

You would have had a hard time guessing which squad should have been tired, and which one should have been wired.

It’s the second straight loss for the Jets to begin a tough four-game road trip. Winnipeg is now 34-21-1 and still three points behind Dallas for top spot in the Central Division.

However, they are just 5-7-0 in the last 12 games. That has them hearing footsteps from several hard-charging clubs in the Western Conference including third-place Colorado (two points back) and wildcard Minnesota (four points back) within their own division.

So why have things seemingly gone south?

“I don’t really feel like answering that question to be honest,” a clearly frustrated Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck told the Free Press in the dressing room at Prudential Center.

“I want to keep things positive and keep things on the right side. We’ve done a lot of hard work and done a lot of good things. Obviously we don’t love that. Tomorrow is a new day.”

New Jersey improves to 37-14-5, including a sizzling 13-2-2 in their last 17.

Hellebuyck may not want to delve into details. But that’s kind of our job. So here’s our take on the major issues.

1) Puck management has been brutal at times. Kyle Connor coughed up the puck early in the third period which led to Fabian Zetterlund’s tying goal at 5:02. And then the normally reliable Dylan DeMelo and Adam Lowry had a behind-the-net malfunction leading to Miles Wood’s go-ahead tally at 6:53.

“You go back for those pucks in a 2-1 game, you can’t be turning them over. We just kind of gave them those two goals,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said following the game.

Look, there’s no question the Devils have speed to burn and come at you hard and fast. But Bowness didn’t want to let his troops off the hook for the costly turnovers.

“Self-inflicted. We had time to make plays there,” said Bowness. “Just bad mistakes. We had time to make a play and we didn’t make a play.”

There were numerous other blunders as well, including an ugly pair by Pierre-Luc Dubois that could have been goals if not for Hellebuyck’s stops.

“We just kind of got away from it a little bit,” said Jets centre Mark Scheifele, who had a pair of assists. “We were missing passes and we didn’t execute as much as we should have. Then, when you play a skilled team like that… They made some plays.”

Dawson Mercer completed the comeback with an empty-netter in the final minute.

2) This team simply not scoring enough. Just two more goals in this one, which brings them to 28 over the last dozen games.

Bowness gave his club an extreme makeover by switching all four forward lines, both power play units and two out of three defence pairs.

It didn’t really work.

Cole Perfetti opened the scoring at 14:57 of the first period, his eighth of the year. After Mercer tied it just 19 seconds later — banking a pass attempt in off Jets defenceman Nate Schmidt — Neal Pionk restored the lead at 17:09 with a point blast for his eighth of the year.

A good start. But ultimately all Winnipeg could muster. Kevin Stenlund had a golden chance to make it 3-1 early in the middle frame, but his stick broke as he tried to sweep a loose puck into an empty net. That kind of summarizes how it’s been gong as of late.

“They don’t dump the puck in a whole lot. They make plays, they come with speed, they have some skilled guys that can make some plays, and yeah. They’re tough to play against,” Scheifele said of how the Devils made life miserable for the Jets.

3) The power play remains ice cold. Another 0-for-3 night, and only one of those opportunities looked dangerous at all.

Bowness has switched up the personnel, hoping to find some chemistry, but the early returns were more of the same.

“That second last power play, we had two Grade A’s that we don’t bury. Last one was a bit of a disaster but… I don’t know. We’ll see how she goes,” was Scheifele’s assessment.

4) The Eastern Conference remains a nightmare for Winnipeg. They may be dominant in their own division and conference (24-8-1, in fact). But the East is a beast for the Jets, who are now a woeful 10-13-0 in that department.

“Tonight, it doesn’t matter who we play, when you go back and you turn the puck over like we did, that has nothing to do with East or West. That’s us just turning the puck over,” said Bowness.

“I know it’s a story but, to us, play the game the right way — a little harder in certain situations, regardless of whether it’s east or west — and things will take care of themselves.”

5) This might be an even costlier loss, as forward Nikolaj Ehlers left the game in the third period and didn’t return following a run-in with New Jersey defencemen Brendan Smith.

Ehlers was given a couple cross-checks, then appeared to get tripped up and hit his head on the ice. Curiously, there was no penalty call on the play.

“We’re obviously going to feel that way. They didn’t see it. They didn’t see it,” said Bowness.

He didn’t have an immediate post-game update on Ehlers, including whether he was in concussion protocol.

6) Things don’t get any easier, with the Jets quickly back in action Monday night against red-hot New York Rangers who are 8-0-2 in their last 10 games.

They’ll wrap up the trip Wednesday night in Belmont against the New York Islanders.

“We just have to get back to playing a full 60 minutes,” said Bowness. “Our puck management tonight certainly got us in a lot of trouble. When we were in trouble, it was more us turning pucks over than anything else. We get over that, get going north and get skating again, we’ll get going again.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg