Jets stumble through loss to Isles

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This article was published 22/02/2023 (942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW YORK — When the Winnipeg Jets hit the road a week ago, head coach Rick Bowness said the priority was to at least come back home in no worse shape than when they left.

Mission not accomplished.

A four-game road trip ended Wednesday with a 1-3-0 record following a 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena in Elmont.

“Obviously not satisfied, but it just goes to show that we’re not exactly where we want to be,” said forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who was the only Winnipeg player who could solve goaltender Ilya Sorokin.

“We know we have work to do.”

They certainly do, and not a ton of time left to do it. The regular-season finish line is now just 50 days away, and the Jets have only 24 games left. Winnipeg is 35-22-1, and just 6-8-0 in the last 14. Although they remain in second place in the Central Division, the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild are hot on their heels.

New York, which currently occupies the first wild-card spot in the elite Eastern Conference, improves to 30-24-7.

“Dropping three out of four on the road is never a good thing,” said forward Adam Lowry. ” I think we played well, but we had another level, too. There’s just a sharpness to our game we expect to be there and we don’t think it was there every shift.”

Here’s our breakdown of some of those things the Jets need to work on down the stretch if they want to start turning some of these frustrating losses into wins.

1. Where, oh where, has the secondary scoring gone? Several of Winnipeg’s bottom six players have gone ice cold. Lowry hasn’t scored in 31 games. Saku Maenalanen in 18. Morgan Barron in 16.

That’s a big problem for a team that now has just 34 combined goals in the last 14 games.

“Sometimes that’s the difference. You can’t rely on your big guns to score three or four every night so we’ve got to start carrying the load a little bit and taking a little ownership on that,” said an obviously frustrated Lowry.

“We created some chances but that’s the difference. They got a goal from their bottom six tonight and we didn’t tonight.”

Indeed, with the game deadlocked as it approached the midway mark of the third period, rookie Islanders forward Simon Holmstrom beat a screened Connor Hellebuyck for the fourth goal of his young career.

It ultimately stood as the game-winner.

“Well we need more from the bottom six, there’s no question,” said Bowness, who has tried shaking up the mix by putting Ehlers and Blake Wheeler on the so-called third line with Lowry.

“So you just keep getting them out there and eventually… they work hard. They generate things. They can’t pass up any opportunities to shoot the puck, which I thought they did tonight a few times. But they’re working. They’re around the net. It’s just not going in for them right now.”

With the trade deadline now eight days away, it would seem a loud and clear message has been sent to general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff that some help is sorely needed up front.

“Listen, they’ve got to play through it. That’s what you do. You gotta put more pucks to the net. It goes back to trying to get a greasy goal,” Bowness said of the more immediate solutions to the problem.

“I think we work hard, but I mean, we haven’t scored enough goals to win games. So, we have to clean some stuff up,” added Ehlers.

2. Poor puck management once again reared its ugly head on New York’s opening goal.

With the teams playing four-on-four due to offsetting penalties, Mason Appleton tried a drop pass to Ehlers as they crossed into the offensive zone.

Ehlers wasn’t there, and the puck quickly got turned around the other way, leading to a two-on-one rush on which Sebastian Aho scored on the ensuing rebound.

“I thought he was going to come out a bit more before dropping it. He just dropped it to the inside of me,” Ehlers said of the malfunction at the junction.

“It is what it is. If I would have got it, it might have been a great chance. It’s a little misunderstanding, that happens. It ends up in a rebound shot that goes between my skates, back door.”

Unfortunately, we’ve seen this play out countless times, especially on the road trip in which the Jets let winnable games in Columbus and New Jersey slip away. Both times, the Jets scored first and entered the third period either in the lead or tied, only to have it implode.

“They’re a good team. I think when we use our speed against them, we were really good. We didn’t do that enough. We had a lot of turnovers that we can’t keep doing,” said Ehlers.

The Jets actually played a much tidier game than the one at Madison Square Garden on Monday, in which Hellebuyck made 50 saves to lead his team to a rather improbable 4-1 win. The Islanders only generated 22 total shots on this night.

The critical errors were still there.

“We were fine. We didn’t give up much. So, defensively we were far better tonight. That didn’t hurt us,” said Bowness. “It was the puck decisions that ended up in the back of our net. And the missed opportunities around their net.”

3. The penalty-kill remains tremendous, with another four-for-four outing Wednesday. The power play continues to struggle, going just one-for-four.

Ehlers broke a 10-game personal drought when he scored at 4:30 of the second on Winnipeg’s first opportunity, which made you believe that perhaps they were turning a corner. (They also went one-for-one against the Rangers).

“It always feels good to score,” said Ehlers, who was playing in his 500th career game.

However, the next three chances, including a pair in the third period, came up empty and never really looked very dangerous.

“We didn’t generate enough shots,” said Bowness. “They’re the No. 1 penalty killing team in the league at home and they’ve got an outstanding goalie, but that doesn’t mean that you pass it around and pass it around. We have to get more shots, it’s as simple as that.”

4. The Jets made just one lineup change in this one.

Defenceman Dylan Samberg came in after being a healthy scratch last game, while Logan Stanley came out. Blue-liner Kyle Capobianco, as he’s done for all but nine games this year, was relegated to popcorn duty in the press box. Forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, who was just called up Tuesday from the Manitoba Moose, also sat out.

He took the roster spot of Cole Perfetti, who suffered an upper-body injury on Sunday against the Devils. There is no timetable for his potential return,

“He’s been reassessed and we’re waiting for a doctor’s report,” said Bowness.

5. The Jets will now return for some home cooking, playing six of their next seven games at Canada Life Centre. Up first is Colorado on Friday night.

“I believe in this team. We’ll play ourselves through this,” Bowness said of the recent stumbles. “We’ve got the most important game of the year coming home on Friday night and that’s the focal point right now.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg