FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: It’s fair to say I’ve been around the Jets a lot lately. Tonight will mark my 16th press-box seat in their last 17 games, the lone exception being that Dec. 6 beatdown in Edmonton. As a result, I’ve had an up-close look at a lot of bad hockey — and a lot of glum faces — from players, coaches and management. That included co-owner Mark Chipman on Friday in Denver, where he was in attendance despite not travelling to many road games these days.
I’ve also covered a long run of practices and morning skates during that stretch, many of them heavy affairs where you could feel the weight of the situation. Now, maybe it’s the upcoming break, or maybe it’s the fact the team played fairly well against the Avalanche, but Saturday’s skate at Utah’s gorgeous new practice facility carried a noticeably lighter feel.
I brought that up in my chat with Scott Arniel.
“Gloom and doom and hanging our heads here isn’t going to help,” Arniel told me.
“We’ve been going through a tough spell. We’ve been getting the quiet anger-type days. There were some good things (Friday) night against a really good hockey team that we have to take into (Sunday). There’s lots of things as a coach I didn’t like, but there were also some positives.”
Make no mistake: one encouraging night won’t mean a single thing if the Jets don’t follow it up. They looked like world-beaters eight days ago when they walloped Washington, only to follow it with two straight stinkers against Ottawa and St. Louis.
There’s still a feeling around this team that everyone is waiting for something to happen — and perhaps we’ll see some actual changes coming out of Winnipeg’s five-day holiday hiatus.
Speaking of which, I’m looking forward to getting away from the rink this week to spend time with family and close friends. I hope you all get the chance to relax and recharge as well. Here’s wishing you and yours a peaceful, happy and restorative holiday season.
KEN SAYS: Remember a few weeks ago when Arniel mentioned it felt like the Jets were in a situation where they would patch a hole in the boat but one or two other leaks would pop up? Friday’s game was the latest example of that.
On one hand, the Jets cleaned up their special teams and actually won the special-teams 2-0 against the Avalanche, but generated very little at five-on-five. Thus, the incremental gains were eliminated by getting outscored 3-0 at even strength.
The goals allowed included a crazy carom off the skate of Fleury, a rush goal where Nathan MacKinnon found the trailer (Martin Necas) and a beautiful redirection by Parker Kelly. That means it’s not as simple as just cleaning up one specific area.
Make no mistake, the Jets played the league-leading Avalanche hard in the one-goal loss but when things have been as tough as they’d been of late for the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners, close simply won’t cut it. As Arniel pointed out in his post-game address, the Jets need to start finding ways to come out on top in those tight games.
I’ll be watching Perfetti closely in this one. The Jets forward exited the penalty box after serving a tripping minor and had nine seconds of ice time early in the third period, but didn’t take another shift.
Arniel said only that it was a coach’s decision and didn’t elaborate on the reasons why, but Perfetti was on the ice for the first two goals against — and he got beaten up the ice by Necas on the second goal, despite starting in the proper defensive posture.
Cole Perfetti (Karl DeBlaker / The Associated Press files)
Now, this wasn’t a matter of effort. Necas is a faster skater and it’s not like Perfetti was coasting or anything, but when things aren’t going well, plays like this can get magnified.
Perfetti’s offensive woes have been well documented since coming back from the high ankle sprain, but it’s clear he needs to get going here. He responded well to being a healthy scratch a couple of years ago, and this is the latest bout of adversity to work his way through.
The Mammoth are a fun team to watch.
They’ve been a bit up and down of late, but they’ve played the Jets tough since entering the league.
They’ve got a bunch of skilled players in the lineup, including UND alum Nick Schmaltz (31 points), captain Clayton Keller (30 points), Dylan Guenther (28 points) and JJ Peterka (26 points).
They’ve also made life difficult defensively on the Jets, so it will be interesting to see how they can balance playing with the urgency required while staying patient enough to ensure they don’t feed into the transition game of the Mammoth.
To all of you and your families, thanks for following along and all the best during the holiday season.
PROJECTED LINES
WINNIPEG JETS
FORWARDS
Connor-Scheifele-Nyquist
Perfetti-Namestnikov-Vilardi
Barron-Lowry-Iafallo
Niederreiter-Toews-Pearson
DEFENCE
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Miller
GOAL
Hellebuyck
Comrie
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Fleury, D Schenn, F Koepke
INJURED: None
UTAH MAMMOTH
FORWARDS
Keller-Schmaltz-Petreka
Crouse-Hayton-Guenther
But-McBain-Carcone
O’Brien-Stenlund-Kerfoot
DEFENCE
Sergachev-Durzi
Schmidt-Marino
Cole-DeSimone
GOAL
Vejmelka
Vanecek
INJURED: F Cooley (leg), D Valimaki (ACL)
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: F Yamamoto, F Tanev, D Maata
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
Jets coach Scott Arniel offering up his scouting report on the Mammoth:
“They’ve got some forwards that can go. A lot like the Colorado game, we’ve got to try and stay away from trading chances with them and getting people caught on the wrong side and allowing numbers to come. They’re good at that. Like a lot of teams, everyone recognizes defending is huge in this league and they’ve done a better job with that as well.”
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON
Mike is on scene in Salt Lake City and will have his game analysis and a secondary story from inside the Delta Center. You can find both pieces online at winnipegfreepress.com and in Monday’s print edition.
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