Sinking to new depths

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This article was published 23/03/2024 (562 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ELMONT, N. Y. — It was the kind of embarrassing effort and pathetic performance that will add more fuel to the fraudulent fire.

The Winnipeg Jets sure looked more like pretenders than contenders in an ugly 6-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score suggested.

Worst game of the year? By a country mile.

“Just not good enough. That sums it up,” captain Adam Lowry told the Free Press.

“Kind of every facet of the game, details, not ready on faceoffs, front of our net, neutral zone. They were a lot quicker than us, they forced a lot of turnovers. We weren’t sharp. We weren’t crisp. We didn’t do a good enough job spending enough time in their end.”

The fact the Jets coughed up a hairball of this magnitude less than 48 hours after another lacklustre 4-2 loss in New Jersey on Thursday night — and that it came against an Islanders club that had lost six straight games — should add an extra level of alarm.

Winnipeg had prevailed in the first two stops — against the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers — of the five-game road trip in impressive fashion.

“It was a little bit of everything. It really was,” said associate coach Scott Arniel.

Ryan Whitney, a former NHL defenceman who now is part of the popular Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, recently provided a spicy soundbite as he discussed Winnipeg’s’s season. A current player he didn’t name allegedly told him the Jets “are the biggest frauds in the league and that they’ll lose in the first round.”

You can expect that will gain even more traction in some quarters in the coming days.

Winnipeg dropped to 44-21-5, while New York improved to 30-25-15.

Let’s dig a little deeper into this one by tackling the top storylines:

THE HOOK: It had been more than a calendar year since goalie Connor Hellebuyck was pulled from a game. But when Mathew Barzal scored the fifth goal on the 26th shot of the day for the hosts — with still just over half a game to play — Arniel had seen enough.

The Vezina Trophy favourite was given the mercy hook, stopping to have a brief chat on the bench with Arniel before he made his way down the tunnel.

“Move on. The team in front of him isn’t very good. Just don’t want to see him go through any more of that,” Arniel said of his message.

Laurent Brossoit came into the game, with Anders Lee making it 6-1 before a nightmarish second period was over. Brossoit blocked 12 of 13 shots as the Islanders took the foot off the gas in the final frame.

“I feel bad for our goalies. We left them out to dry. They battled hard,” said Lowry.

Winnipeg had been the stingiest squad in the NHL — in terms of goals allowed — and was in the running for the Jennings Trophy. However, Saturday’s outing now has them trailing the Florida Panthers.

“I don’t know where we’ll sit after that game but we’ve been really one of the best defensive teams in the league 5-on-5 all year,” said defenceman Josh Morrissey.

“We pride ourselves on playing that way. That’s the reason that we’ve had a good year so far and the reason we’re in a position to fight for a division title in the Central is our defensive game and our 5-on-5 play. Clearly, that wasn’t there today. When we are at our best, we don’t give up that much. We’re a defence-first team and we don’t give up chances 5-on-5. That’s where the focus is. Those individual things, they don’t matter to me.”

THE MISTAKES: There really are far, far too many to list, as Arniel alluded to.

Fourth-liner Cal Clutterbuck opened the scoring at 5:22 after Morgan Barron won a defensive zone faceoff back to Neal Pionk, who misplayed the puck and allowed Clutterbuck two whacks at it. Just a few minutes later, Clutterbuck was given plenty of time and space off the rush as he ripped a shot past Hellebuyck for his second of the afternoon.

After Vlad Namestnikov cut the deficit in half with his 10th of the year. Kyle Palmieri scored a similar goal later in the first with the Jets allowing the Islanders to build up plenty of speed in the neutral zone and burn them again.

Winnipeg took a 3-1 deficit into the second period. One might have figured the visitors might come out with a bit more focus. But they were actually worse. Hudson Fasching upped the lead to 4-1 just 111 seconds into the middle frame after some horrible defensive zone play.

At one point, the shots were 21-3 for New York.

“We just weren’t any good in the first two periods,” said Morrissey. “You always know it’s going to be a hard game against them, especially in this rink. We didn’t match that intensity and that’s the result we got in the first two periods.”

SHAKE IT UP: Arniel got the full line blender out for the third period. Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mason Appleton comprised the top line. Namestnikov, Sean Monahan and Kyle Connor were on the second. Lowry, Nino Niederreiter and Tyler Toffoli made up the third. And Cole Perfetti, Alex Iafallo and Barron were on the fourth.

“Had to do something. Had to do something. Had to change the looks,” said Arniel.

The Jets at least managed to make the final score a little more respectable as both Appleton and Perfetti both found the back of the net, with Winnipeg outshooting New York 17-3.

SILVER LININGS: We’re really stretching to find anything positive to highlight, but here goes.

When the score was 6-1, defenceman Dylan Samberg was a plus-one, which is really hard to do when every goal came at even strength.

The Jets penalty kill, after a horrific night in New Jersey in which they surrendered three goals, went a perfect 1-for-1.

Namestnikov is now the 13th Jets player, all forwards, to hit double-digits in goals. That’s some serious offensive depth.

Perfetti, a healthy scratch for the past four games, broke a 23-game scoring drought. He had 14 goals in his first 40 games, but had gone bone dry over the last two months with just two assists.

“The one big thing was it was nice to see Cole score. I know it has been a long time. Hopefully, that can build his confidence,” said Lowry.

Morrissey’s assist on Appleton’s goal was his 50th of the season, and also the 300th point of his career.

“Those individual things are great but right now it’s about finding our team identity and getting back to that game,” said Morrissey.

CENTRAL BATTLE: There’s been a lot of talk about the Jets facing desperate teams such as the Devils and Islanders. Arniel would like to see his club play with a bit more urgency, considering they still have plenty to fight for down the stretch.

Yes, a playoff spot is essentially wrapped up, but the Jets are in a battle for first in the Central. However, Saturday’s loss now has them in third place behind the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars.

“We have our own little race going,” said Arniel, “We have to recognize we don’t really need to care about these teams out East, we’ve got a race going in the West that we have to make sure we’re ready to go every night.”

EXTRA, EXTRA: In addition to Perfetti coming into the lineup for David Gustafsson, defenceman Nate Schmidt replaced Colin Miller.

The Jets chartered to Washington following the game and will face the Capitals on Sunday afternoon to wrap up the five-game trip. Arniel said he will discuss lineup decisions with the other coaches. Brossoit was originally scheduled to start, but it’s possible they go back to Hellebuyck.

“The only thing we will take out of this is we don’t have to sit on it for too long. We got another hungry team in Washington in a very similar spot to where the Islanders are, if not hungrier because they’re a little closer.,” said Lowry.

“Another desperate team, another team that is going to come out flying. We gotta find a way to get our legs. We gotta find a way to get our start. That’s one of those things that’s put us on our heels. Teams have come out, forechecked us hard and we haven’t had the answer, per see. Watch the film tonight, review some things. But ultimately, I don’t think it’s Xs and Os. It’s more compete.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating. A disappointing result,” Lowry added. “I can’t go back. We can’t change that. We’ve gotta turn the page and get ready for Washington because we’re going to have to have a much better game than we did today.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg