Who are these guys?

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This article was published 19/02/2024 (595 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY — Somewhere in the short charter flight between Vancouver and Calgary and a 42-hour break between games, the Winnipeg Jets apparently forgot who — and what — they are.

How else to explain a puzzling turn of events which saw them put forth one of their best showings of the season on Saturday night, downing the mighty Canucks 4-2, only to seem like a shell of their usual selves in an ugly 6-3 loss on Monday afternoon to the Flames?

Just like that, a team that has been the picture of consistency all year looked like it was suffering a sudden identity crisis.

“That’s as soft a five-on-five game as we’ve played all year. That’s not us at all. It didn’t even look like the Winnipeg Jets out there,” a frustrated coach Rick Bowness said outside the team’s room at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

“We don’t play like that. That’s just not our hockey club. That’s as soft as we’ve played, as loose as we’ve played.”

The Jets were in control of this one early, with a 3-1 lead just past the midway point of the first period thanks to a natural hat trick from Sean Monahan. Considering Winnipeg has the NHL’s best defensive numbers, you figured that might just be enough to bring this one home.

The coach wasn’t convinced.

“We were soft from the beginning for me. Don’t get fooled by the score,” is how Bowness described it. “We talked about that right after the first period. Don’t be fooled by the score, we’re not playing that well.”

Indeed, Calgary scored five straight as the Jets appeared confused and, at times, completely discombobulated when it comes to their usual stellar defensive zone coverage.

“I didn’t think we were any good,” defenceman Josh Morrissey said bluntly.

“We pride ourselves on being a good defensive team, not giving up scoring chances, in zone, off the rush. Just gave up too many chances against and high-danger scoring looks for them.”

Winnipeg, which had won three straight games, falls to 33-15-5. Calgary, which had lost three straight outings, improves to 26-25-5.

Let’s break this one down in detail:

1) A happy homecoming – Welcome back to Calgary, Sean Monahan.

The veteran forward, playing in just his sixth game with the Jets since being acquired from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a first-round draft pick, had quite the return to the city where his NHL career began.

“Came in at 18, was here for quite a while so it will always be a special place to me,” said Monahan, who was drafted sixth-overall in 2013 and played his first 656 big-league with the Flames.

After Oliver Kylington gave the Flames a 1-0 lead just 4:19 into the game, Monahan took matters into his own hands. His first-period natural hat trick, which took just 5:17, is the first in Jets history, including both 1.0 and 2.0 versions.

“Obviously he’s had an amazing career here in Calgary. Just playing against him, and myself being from this city here, seeing what he did with the Flames jersey on for a long time, the passion he played for that team, it’s only his second game back here and I know that was a special one for him,” said Morrissey.

Monahan’s first tally occurred on the power play, and he poked a loose puck across the goal line to even the game at 6:07. Kyle Connor’s blast had been stopped by Calgary goaltender Jacob Markstrom, but then trickled through his pads.

Monahan struck again just 42 seconds later, this time at five-on-five, as he once again went hard to the net and cleaned up some chaos that had been created of a deflected Dylan DeMelo point shot.

Last, but not least, came another power play market at 11:24. Gabe Vilardi and Kyle Connor, who had assisted on his first, got the helpers again after some crisp puck movement found Monahan open in the slot.

“It’s disappointing that we couldn’t get the win for him and be able to celebrate it. But individually I thought he played great,” said Morrissey. “And it’s great to see him finding the back of the net. It’s just a matter of time. He’s such an addition to our power play.”

After being held off the scoresheet in his first four games, Monahan scored a power play goal on Saturday night in Vancouver followed by this big burst. He’s now up to 17 on the year and has breathed plenty of life into Winnipeg’s offence.

“I think just more comfortable making reads, I think we’re getting pucks to the net,” he said of the difference. “When you get a couple on the power play and get some confidence, I think that goes a long way.”

2) D-zone disaster – The list of culprits is a long one, starting with Winnipeg’s top line of Vilardi, Connor and Mark Scheifele, and the defence pairing of Brenden Dillon and Neal Pionk, which was on the ice and directly responsible for Kylington’s game-opening goal, and Blake Coleman’s tally later in the first period that cut the lead to 3-2.

After Nazem Kadri tied the game at 4:28 of the second on the power play, Pionk and Dillon had another rough sequence as Jonathan Huberdeau put Calgary up with just under four minutes left in the middle frame.

Bowness had seen enough.

Dillon was moved down to the third pair with Nate Schmidt. Pionk was moved up to play with Morrissey. And Dylan DeMelo and Dylan Samberg found themselves as the new second pair.

Given that Andrew Mangiapane made it 5-3 at 13:18 of the third, and Kadri added an empty-netter at 18:03, it’s safe to say the switches didn’t make much of a difference as goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was largely hung out to dry.

“To shift up the pairings, shift up the lines, it wouldn’t have mattered one little bit. We just had nobody going, other than Sean and our goalie,” said Bowness.

All told, the six goals allowed is the most Winnipeg has surrendered in any game this year. You have to go back to Nov. 2 to find the last time they allowed five.

“Obviously it’s something we want to clean up,” said Morrissey. “It wasn’t characteristic of our team, and frustrating because we know what it looks like when we’re playing our game. At the end of the day, collectively, starting with myself and everyone else, we can be better.”

3) A Hell-y of a streak – Hellebuyck began the day in rare air, having gone 31 consecutive starts without allowing more than three goals a game. To put that in perspective, only four goalies in the NHL’s modern era have had a longer run of games.

Had Hellebuyck extended his run through this game, he would have pulled into a tie with Linus Ullmark (32 games, Boston Bruins, 2022-23) and Manny Fernandez (32 games, Minnesota Wild, 2005-06) and within striking distance of Devan Dubnyk (35 games, Minnesota Wild 2014-15) and Mikka Kiprusoff (37 games, Calgary Flames, 2005-06).

“Those weren’t goals that I felt like he could have stopped,” said Morrissey.

“We gave them opportunities to score goals that were defensive breakdowns and that’s on us, that’s not on him. He’s been unbelievable all year. And it’s just disappointing that we as a team in front of him gave up looks that there was nothing he could do on. But at the end of the day he’s playing great and we’ll all bounce back and start another one.”

4) No time to pout – The Jets chartered home immediately after the game to prepare to face the Minnesota on Tuesday night at Canada Life Centre in what is expected to be a heated Central Division encounter between these heated rivals.

“Those guys have a lot of pride. They’ve taken great pride in our goals against all year. And they have. And that’s why we’re the top defensive team in the league,” Bowness said of expecting a good response after this poor outing.

“I’m very confident that they’re going to bounce back (Tuesday) with a very solid effort.”

The Wild are coming off a bizarre 10-7 victory — you read that right — over the Canucks on Monday afternoon.

“We’ve just got to get back to Winnipeg, hard-nosed, hard to play against hockey,” said Bowness. “That’s as easy as we’ve played, and as easy to play against as we have all season. So flush it and we’ll get ready to play (Tuesday).”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg