Jets running out of time to find remedy for self-inflicted wounds Playoff run will be short without return to structured defensive hockey By: Ken Wiebe Posted: 5:38 PM CDT Wednesday, Mar. 27, 2024

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This article was published 27/03/2024 (921 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets have admitted they have a problem — a critical step in the recovery process.

Inconsistency has, indeed, been a serious issue for the Jets in recent weeks, and no one in the organization is hiding from the cold, hard truth.

With 10 games left in the regular season, the Jets are nearing the end of the runway to clean up the self-inflicted wounds that continue to plague them during an uneven stretch of hockey — and that’s not a formula for a lengthy playoff run.

The latest entry was Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers. The Jets scored the first goal, gave up the next three and then rallied from a two-goal deficit with markers coming 60 seconds apart to push the game to extra time and secure a valuable point.

Yet, in the fourth period, a turnover in the offensive zone by Kyle Connor helped contribute to the OT winner by Zach Hyman.

This was one of several self-inflicted wounds Jets head coach Rick Bowness was referencing during his post-game comments Tuesday.

For a team that had lost three consecutive games and put forth sub-par efforts in two of them, this was clearly a step forward for a group that is trying to peak at the right time rather than stumble into the playoffs.

As Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon and forward Nino Niederreiter pointed out inside the locker room minutes earlier, there was plenty for the team to like about the first and third periods — but that wasn’t enough.

The second period was a stinker, with the Jets getting heavily outshot (18-4) and outchanced (18-7 overall and 9-4 of the high-danger variety, according to NaturalStatTrick) by the Oilers.

Bowness acknowledged the areas of improvement, while also providing a healthy dose of truth in trying to make sense of it all.

“We just created our own problems. Do we take the next step when we clean that up, yeah? Were there enough good things there? Yeah, we had a lot of chances to score, we hit the crossbar, we had breakaways but so did they,” said Bowness. “It’s disappointing when I see us giving up that many shots and that many chances against. I hate to see that. You’re not going anywhere playing like that. We’ve got to continue to tighten it up. That’s not our game.”

“We just created our own problems. Do we take the next step when we clean that up, yeah?”–Rick Bowness

The frustration in Bowness’ voice as he delivered the answer was apparent.

This wasn’t as simple as an emotional coach blowing off steam at the podium or challenging his team publicly. It was the stark realization from someone who has been around the game for a long time and knows what it takes to be successful at this time of the season.

Bowness wasn’t waving the white flag either. That’s not in his nature. He was simply telling it like it is.

If the Jets don’t find a way to raise their level of play quickly, a long playoff run won’t be in the cards.

The evidence of the erosion of the gold standard has been mounting. Bowness addressed that in a meeting with his players earlier in the day Tuesday, and he shared some of those thoughts after the morning skate.

“You want to have good habits going into the playoffs,” said Bowness, addressing the theory of flipping the switch when the post-season arrives. “You want to be playing really well.”

There was an emphasis on competing at a high level and focusing on the process, which is common given the time of the year, with the calendar about to turn to the month when the Stanley Cup playoffs begin.

Jets players were singing from the same song book.

“You want to have good habits going into the playoffs.”–Rick Bowness

It’s clear that they got the message and for 40-45 minutes on Tuesday night, they turned that talk into action.

It resulted in a solitary point, yet left plenty of room for improvement.

“We did part of it,” said Niederreiter, asked if he saw Tuesday as a step forward. “What was good, especially in the first period, we played the way we want to play to our standard and the second period went the way we shouldn’t play. And I think it definitely showed our team once again (that) we have to play our way to be successful and once we feed in someone’s rush game, that doesn’t really work for us.”

Playing two-thirds of a game isn’t good enough for a team with championship aspirations.

Special teams were an obvious factor as well, with the Jets going 0-for-5 with the man advantage while giving up a power-play goal in four Oilers chances.

The struggles on special teams have been a factor for much of this season and they’ve taken on heightened importance of late.

Since going three-for-three on the power play in the 6-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, the Jets have one goal in 16 opportunities.

They’ve also allowed six power-play markers during the past six games — killing off 10 of 16 minors for a 62.5 per-cent efficiency rating during that span. It’s an area that requires significant improvement for the Jets to try to get where they want to go.

“The consistency is the hardest thing for us to get. Defence is hard work. There’s no shortcuts.”–Rick Bowness

This goes beyond the numbers but some are worth investigating further.

For 34 games between early November and late January when the Jets were at the peak of their performance, they allowed three goals or fewer. The more impressive stat was that the Jets only gave up two goals in 14 consecutive games during that span.

At the time, there was ample talk of commitment and paying attention to the details.

For the sake of context, during the 14 games this month the Jets have given up four or more goals in five of them and allowed three goals in two more of them.

“The consistency is the hardest thing for us to get. Defence is hard work. There’s no shortcuts,” Bowness said on Tuesday morning. “Structure is hard work and getting ready to do it every night. That’s the hard part: getting mentally ready to do it every night.”

This isn’t a goaltending issue either, with the Jets posting three shutouts and holding the New York Rangers to two goals last Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.

Connor Hellebuyck remains the favourite to win the Vezina Trophy and while he allowed four goals against the Oilers, he was also the biggest reason the Jets managed to walk away with a point at all, finishing with 38 saves.

So, where do the Jets go from here as they welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to town Thursday (7 p.m.) as they continue this pivotal five-game homestand?

“Just a little bit more consistency,” Dillon said after the overtime loss. “It was a good effort by us, but at the end of the day, we need to get two points out of them. We just continue to prove to ourselves throughout this year, through now 72 games, (that) when we’re on our game, when we’re playing the way that we talk about Winnipeg Jet hockey, we’re an elite team. But we’re not doing that when we’re trying to be fancy or letting our foot off the gas.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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