Hapless Jets dismantled by Sabres

BUFFALO — One step forward. Two embarrassing steps back.

The Winnipeg Jets talked a good game about not letting Saturday’s victory go to their heads. That positive performance against the Nashville Predators was supposed to set the table for better things to come, a reminder they’re capable of success when they actually walk the walk.

So how did they follow-up at the very next opportunity? By tripping over their own feet and face-planting all over KeyBank Center. Monday’s 5-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres was as pitiful as they come — a quick return to all the bad habits that have become their calling card for much of this season.

“I’d love to give you all the answers. I think if I had them all, we wouldn’t be in this position that we’re in,” veteran defenceman Dylan DeMelo said.

“I think that’s the biggest concern, just the inconsistency we have right now in our game, in all facets.”

Costly turnovers. Shoddy defending. Limited offence with absolutely no secondary scoring. And skating as slow as molasses, unable to keep up with a much speedier squad all night.

All of this, it should be noted, came against an opponent that began the night 29th-overall in the NHL standings — and hasn’t made the playoffs since the Atlanta Thrashers were still a thing. Seriously.

“Whether that’s stubborn or whether that’s not being quick enough, not reading the situation fast enough…We kicked ourselves in that one,” said coach Scott Arniel.

“We were chasing that game right from the get-go. I didn’t have the warm and fuzzies about anything happening.”

Winnipeg tastes defeat for the ninth time in the past 13 games, falling to 13-12-0 overall. Buffalo improves to 11-11-4, which means the two clubs are now tied in points.

THE MEETING: Per NHL regulations, teams are supposed to open their room to media within 10 minutes of the final buzzer. But it took about double that after this one, the result of a closed-door meeting that Arniel later revealed was called and led by Jets captain Adam Lowry.

“Everybody’s got to be a lot better. Keep it at that,” forward Kyle Connor said when asked to summarize the theme of the chat. “And I believe in this group, the leadership that we have, the players in here. It’s in this room. It’s got to be us to figure it out and turn this thing around, grab that identity and grab a hold of something that makes us tick. It seems like we’re still trying to find that. We have it at nights. We go into Nashville and play a great game, and we kind of show up like that tonight. It’s just rallying, everybody being a leader, bringing to the table what you do good, focus on that and be the best you can every single night. Like I said, I believe in this group. Hopefully we look back on this and we grow from it, we learn from it, and use this as a positive in the future.”

The team actually moved the post-game media availability to a backdrop outside the room, not bringing reporters and cameras in. Was it because they didn’t want people to see the paint had been peeled off the walls?

Arniel was happy to see Lowry take control, saying the players have to find a way out of this.

“You’re hoping that the response into our next game is a lot better than what it was (Monday night),” he said.

“We’re a veteran group, we recognize that we just embarrassed ourselves and we’re going to have to be a heck of a lot better in the next one.”

THE START: Last Friday in Raleigh, Arniel bemoaned the fact that several of his players didn’t show up for the start of the game. To be clear, he was talking figuratively, even though it did look at times like the Jets didn’t have the same number of skaters on the ice as the Carolina Hurricanes given how porous they were.

Well, the same thing happened again 72 hours later. The Jets were merely spectators as the Sabres basically did whatever they pleased, including scoring a pair of goals 15 seconds apart.

The first came after veteran forward Vlad Namestnikov made a careless turnover in the Buffalo zone, leading to an odd-man rush which ended when DeMelo took a holding penalty. A short time later, Jason Zucker pounced on a rebound to open the scoring on the power play at 2:46 of the opening frame.

Then, with the Jets still in a fog over falling behind 1-0 for the fifth time in the last six games, defenceman Bowen Byram walked in and ripped a shot past Eric Comrie to make it 2-0 at 3:01

Sabres centre Josh Norris, who got hurt in the season-opener in early October and then missed the next 24 games, made it 3-0 later in the frame, tucking a puck past Comrie after he was given all sorts of time and space.

“We showed video, did our pre-scout of their last three games — how many opportunities they get off their rush, their four-man rush with the D,” Arniel said of the talk with his team piror to puck drop.

“(And then) we gave up all of those rush opportunities and they capitalized on them. We’re getting beat up the ice shift after shift after shift.”

THE RESPONSE: Comrie’s night was over after 20 minutes — 14 shots, 11 saves — although Arniel was quick to note this was a “mercy pull” and a chance to perhaps spark the group.

It looked like it might be working when Connor tipped a Josh Morrissey shot midway through the second period to bring the visitors within two.

However, that was short-lived as the Jets gave up another goal off the rush just over two minutes later off the stick of Alex Tuch. Then, just 41 seconds into the final frame, the sleepy Jets got burned one last time as Norris scored his second of the night.

Rinse, repeat.

“We gave up nine rush chances. They scored four goals off the rush,” said Arniel. “We fed right into their offence.”

Rookie Thomas Milic, making his second NHL appearance and first in mop-up duty, stopped 15 of 17 shots he faced.

“It’s been a struggle at times this year to come up with that identity, play that same way, play a full 60, string games together,” admitted Connor.

“These are all things that are fixable. It’s not just going to be the flip of a switch and it’s going to be back playing the right way. It’s going to be hard work, having our assignments, everybody doing the right job, relying on each other. If one or two guys are doing the right job, it’s not going to be good enough. We need everybody playing as five, as a unit. And we just feel a bit disconnected, I think.”

KEY PLAY: It truly was the sequence of events early in the game — the Namestnikov turnover, the DeMelo penalty and the Zucker goal — which set the tone for what was to come.

THREE STARS:

1. Sabres C Josh Norris: 2G 1A

2. Sabres F RW Josh Doan: 2A

3. Sabres G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen: 23 saves

EXTRA, EXTRA: The Jets went zero-for-two on the power play, while the Sabres went one-for-three.

The only area Winnipeg had an advantage in was hits, leading Buffalo 35-12. Of course, a big reason for that is the home team had the puck on their stick for much more of the night.

The Jets went with the same lineup as their 5-2 win in Nashville, meaning forward Cole Koepke and defenceman Elias Salomonsson were healthy scratches. Both play with speed, and you wonder if the Jets would have been better served against a team like Buffalo with them in the lineup.

Will they get the call on Wednesday in Montreal when the Jets wrap up this five-game road trip?

“Everything is in play here. We’ll see where we are. We’ll check with our injured guys. Obviously, we’ll look at this and we’ll make a decision for Wednesday,” said Arniel.

Defenceman Neal Pionk missed a fourth consecutive game with a lower-body injury, although he’s getting close to a return. Blue-liner Haydn Fleury (concussion) and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (knee) are the others currently sidelined.

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