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WASHINGTON, D.C — Greetings from Washington, where a five-game Winnipeg Jets road trip that started last weekend with so much promise and excitement is now on the cusp of ending with disappointment and, dare we say, disaster?
The Jets took care of business in the first two games, skating to impressive victories over the Columbus Blue Jackets (6-1) and New York Rangers (4-2). But the script has been flipped in the past two, with ugly losses to the New Jersey Devils (4-2) and New York Islanders (6-3).
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In that sense, today’s finale against the Washington Capitals will be quite telling.
There are more lineup questions than ever for the visitors, so take the projected lines below with an enormous grain of salt. Not only in terms of who is playing and who is sitting, but how the four lines and three defence pairs are constructed.
With no morning skate today, we won’t know until the warmup — the actual on-ice one, not this fine newsletter — what associate coach Scott Arniel looks to do.
Does Connor Hellebuyck, who was supposed to be off today but got a mercy pull Saturday midway through the game after giving up five goals on 26 shots, end up starting?
Do any of the four healthy scratches come back in? Who comes out?
And how does Arniel put everyone together, given that he had the blender out early and often against the Islanders?
Most importantly — which version of the Jets shows up? This is a huge game if they fancy themselves remaining in the race for top spot in the Central Division.
“We know where Colorado and Dallas are, how critical home ice is and how crucial points are, the difference of having last change in the playoffs and playing in front of your fans,” said captain Adam Lowry.
“We may be comfortable in a playoff spot but seeding is not set in stone. There is still a lot to play for.”
It’s a big one for the Capitals, too, who are trying to remain in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. They beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-6 in a shootout Friday night.
Both T.J Oshie and Aliaksei Protas are considered game-time decisions for the Capitals due to injuries.
Here’s some other information to get you set.
FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: Woof.
That is the best way I can summarize what went down yesterday on Long Island, where the Jets turned in a surprisingly awful performance.
As Lowry told me after the game, the best part for Winnipeg is they get an immediate chance to try and right a wrong.
Will they? Nobody asked me, but here’s three things I’d do today.
1) Put Hellebuyck back in net — You know he’s absolutely seething about Saturday. Give him a chance to flush that out of his system — and for the teammates who left him high and dry to redeem themselves.
2) Scratch Neal Pionk — The veteran defenceman had a truly miserable game, and I think a brief timeout might benefit him. The Jets have been trying to cycle all their healthy players into the lineup. So, rather than continuing to target the third pair of Dylan Samberg and Nate Schmidt and rotate them with Colin Miller and Logan Stanley, why not aim a little higher and let Pionk — who missed a practice earlier in the week with flu-like symptoms — a chance to reset. Put Miller in his spot beside Dillon for a game.
3) Start the lines like they ended against the Islanders — Yes, a 2-0 third period in which they outshot the Islanders 17-3 doesn’t mean much since the home team, which also plays today, had put things in cruise control. But at least the Jets showed a bit of fight. So, go right back to the way they were for that final frame. Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mason Appleton (who scored). Sean Monahan, Kyle Connor and Vlad Namestnikov. Lowry with Nino Niederreiter and Tyler Toffoli. And Morgan Barron with Alex Iafallo and Cole Perfetti (who scored).
“The only thing we can really get from that is when we do play the right way, when we put some push into it…we spent half the period down in their end,” Arniel told me.
“I know it was 6-1, but at the same time there’s a way we need to play and that was a lot closer to the way we need to play than what we saw in the first two periods.”
KEN SAYS: Don’t let the score fool you, Saturday’s game was the worst effort of the Jets this season. To borrow a quote from Schmidt from a Thanksgiving blowout in Minnesota from yesteryear, the Jets were leaking gravy in that outing.
They lost too many races, didn’t win enough battles and were disjointed defensively.
Other than that, not too much to complain about.
This is the time of season when teams suxh as the Jets are supposed to be fine-tuning and gearing up for the playoffs.
Not searching for answers to problems they didn’t think they had.
The Jets haven’t lost consecutive games since the first two coming out of the break but will need a much better effort to avoid a three-game skid.
The Jets hung Hellebuyck out to dry and he was pulled for the first time this season. While he will be eager to get back in the crease, sticking with the original plan of starting Brossoit would be the way I would go if up to me.
FRANK FRANKLIN II / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck reacts after a goal by Mathew Barzal in the second period Saturday. Hellebuyck was pulled after the goal.
Give Hellebuyck time to reset and prepare to face the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.
Perfetti has gone through some “dark days” during the previous 23 games, combined with those healthy scratches, but he snapped the drought with a goal on Saturday.
The Jets’ top guns need to rise up in this game.
Since the win over the Rangers, the top-two lines were incredibly quiet.
Josh Morrissey did chip in his 50th assist of the season on Saturday for what was the 300th NHL point of his career.
But Morrissey was quick to swat away any talk of personal achievement when interviewed by Mike following the game.
The Jets will be advised to keep a close eye on Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin as he’s lit up the franchise on multiple occasions during his career – even though Winnipeg held him off the scoresheet in the first meeting of the campaign.
Ovechkin is up to 24 goals and 56 points in 66 games this season and has 53 goals and 98 points in 72 career games against the Jets and Atlanta Thrashers.
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