Hollow performance in Hollywood

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This article was published 25/03/2023 (942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LOS ANGELES — You look at the Winnipeg Jets in the NHL standings and see a team with a playoff pulse. Then you watch them hit the ice on Saturday afternoon here in Hollywood and see a group that appears headed for a quick and painful demise.

An uninspiring 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena was as lackadaisical and lacklustre at it sounds. There was no real sense of urgency and far too many passengers for a match that should have been easy to get up for.

“It was a big game for us to see where we’re at,” a downtrodden Pierre-Luc Dubois, speaking nearly in a whisper, told reporters outside the team’s locker room.

“I understand you can’t win them all, but at this point of the year we have to try. We have to bring our A game every night.”

That sure sounds like a damning indictment, doesn’t it? There aren’t going to be a lot of nights left in the current campaign if the Jets can’t pull out of this current tailspin which has seen them go from fighting for first place in both the Central Division and Western Conference to barely holding on to the second and final wildcard spot.

Los Angeles improves to 42-20-10, including 9-0-2 in their last 11 games.

Winnipeg is 41-30-3, with a four-point lead over Calgary and a five-point cushion on Nashville. The Jets and Flames have eight regular-season games left, while the Predators play 11 more times.

Where did this one go wrong? Let’s count the ways:

1) Giving up early goals and chasing the game has been a major issue for the Jets lately. And that was once again the case here, as Victor Arvidsson opened the scoring just 82 seconds into the first period.

Mark Scheifele was beaten clean in the faceoff circle by winger Trevor Moore, who got the puck back to Arvidsson in the blink of an eye. He wired a snap shot that appeared to catch Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck by surprise.

“The way they play, the worst thing you can do is give them the lead,” said a frustrated coach Rick Bowness. “Which we did right off the hop by losing that faceoff. That happened so fast. It’s tough for anyone to react when you lost it that clean.”

Alex Iafallo made it 2-0 for the home team when he scored on the power play 5:28 into the second period. Dubois gave the visitors some life when he scored with his team enjoying a five-minute man advantage — more on that in a moment — with just over a minute left in the middle frame.

But, once again, a lost draw quickly ended up in the back of Winnipeg’s net just 27 seconds into the third period. Drew Doughty fired a wrister that Hellebuyck would no doubt love to have back.

“We didn’t give them a scoring chance, five on five, in the second period. So it’s 2-1 going in (to the third). To give up that faceoff goal, that’s painful,” said Bowness.

Arvidsson iced it with an empty-netter at 18:24.

2) Speaking of Scheifele, his play has gone off a cliff in recent games, and Saturday’s may have been his worst of a stinky stretch.

The club’s No. 1 centre didn’t register a single shot on goal in 19:17 of ice time, including 5:52 of power play time, and was a minus-two. Over the last eight games, Scheifele has no goals, just two assists and is a ghastly -13. He’s had no shots in three of those eight games.

Bowness was asked by the Free Press if he needs more from his top players like Scheifele.

“The top guys, yeah. Well, they’ve got to score. We need some goals from them. Yeah. That’s just stating the obvious,” said Bowness.

Is it a case of other teams doing a good job of shutting them down, or is it self-inflicted?

“Fight through it. Fight through it,” Bowness said. “Whatever they throw at you, fight through it.”

3) Winnipeg had a major injury scare in this game, as All-Star defenceman Josh Morrissey was cross-checked in the face by Kings forward Blake Lizotte in the second period.

A five-minute match penalty for attempt to injure was assessed.

“We were kind of going at it up the ice, he hooked me, I slashed him for sure and then he turned around and looked at me and skated in my direction. I said ‘Let’s go,’ and dropped by gloves and got his stick up in my face,” is how Morrissey described it.

He was cut on his chin and inside his lip, requiring approximately 17 or 18 stitches in total.

“My reaction is it hurts a lot and I needed to get off the ice,” said Morrissey, sporting a swollen face. “It was a careless play. I thought we were going to go and I took a cross-check to the chin. It could have been my teeth, so thankfully not.”

Morrissey missed the remainder of the period, including the entire five-minute power play where the Jets could certainly have used their quarterback.

“It’s a dirty play. It’s as simple as that. It’s a dirty play,” said Dubois. “Even if it was in the chest, it’s a dirty play. I hope the league reviews it and makes the right decision. That’s not what anyone wants to see.”

Morrissey was back out for the third period and will likely have to avoid solid food for the next few days. Lizotte, meanwhile, can expect a call from the department of player safety.

“It’s an uncalled for cross-check into a guy’s face. The league’s got to take a really good look at that one,” said Bowness.

4) The power play continues to be a big story for the Jets. They limped into this game on a horrific 0-for-21 stretch and went 1-for-6 overall.

That’s not even close to good enough.

“At least we were shooting the puck today. We took a lot more shots,” said Bowness.

“We had three one-timers in a row that missed the net, so it starts with that. Just put it on the net. We’re setting it up and getting the shot we want, but the missing the net. So at least we put more pucks towards the net. But the players gotta put it on the net. It’s as simple as that.”

Dubois, who seemed as frustrated in his post-game media session as he has at any point during his Jets tenure, said players need to find solutions, and fast.

“We have to find some consistency. We can do a better job,” he said. “At the end of the day, we need wins and we need the power play the power play to get going here.”

5) For those watching at home, it’s worth noting the ice conditions in this one were less than ideal, thanks to an incredibly busy schedule at Crypto.com Arena that involves five games from two different sports over a 48 hour-span.

The Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night. The Kings faced the Jets Saturday afternoon. The ice had been converted back to a basketball court by the time this story got filed as the Los Angeles Clippers entertained the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday evening. And then Sunday involves another double-header, with the Lakers playing the Chicago Bulls in the afternoon and the Kings taking on the St. Louis Blues in the evening.

“They’re a team that if you get down by a couple, they’re pretty hard to play against. That one-three-one, especially when the ice isn’t very good, is tough to get through,” said Morrissey.

“That’s their bread and butter and they’re good at it. I thought we played a little bit into, at times.”

UP NEXT: The Jets will enjoy a few more days in the California sunshine before finishing off the road trip on Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks.

“I think everybody is frustrated right now. Everybody wants to win,” said Dubois. “This time of year, we can’t drop too many points.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg