Winnipeg Jets at Vancouver Canucks

Greetings from Vancouver, where the Winnipeg Jets will attempt to stop the bleeding after going winless in three games in California, while getting outscored 9-2.

The most recent setback was a 4-1 defeat to the surging Anaheim Ducks, who extended their winning streak to seven games in the process.

It’s important to remember the Jets were riding a three-game winning streak and appeared to be turning the corner prior to the past three losses.

But you can expect a sense of urgency from this Jets team that is looking to get back to playing a more sound defensive game after a litany of puck management issues has led to an abundance of odd-man rushes in recent games.

Having a sound defensive structure needs to be the rule rather than the exception.

“We’re kind of looking at it like these next three games are a fresh road trip and we’d love to get back on track,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey. “It’s just doing those little things all over the ice that make us tough to play against and a pressure team.”

“For us, we feel that there is another level — or multiple levels — to our game. Obviously, we’ve got some new faces but we’re 15 games in now. Everyone should know the system and structure and be comfortable in it. So now, it’s about let’s get on the gas and let’s get playing here. Let’s get back to what we were doing during that 9-3 start. We know we’re a really good hockey team and it comes back to executing.”

The Jets recognize the need to execute better, while learning from the issues that have plagued them recently.

“It’s the first little part of adversity here for us. It just comes down to working through it,” said Jets forward Parker Ford. “Whenever you’re going through any sort of slump, the only thing you can do is control your work ethic. That’s something I think we can pick up here — the controllable.

“This group, it’s an older group, everyone knows how to move on. It’s a long season. I think we’re really good at learning from our mistakes and moving on. It just comes down to execution now. What’s happened in the past, we can’t change. We’re moving forward here. We’re going to work through it.”

Another area the Jets will be looking to improve upon is on special teams, where the power play is in the midst of a zero-of-16 drought and the penalty kill gave up a pair of goals on Sunday to Leo Carlsson and has dropped to sixth in the NHL after holding the top spot for a stretch of time.

The Canucks are off to a steady start when you consider they’ve dealt with a number of injury issues of their own, with six regulars out of action at the moment.

They’re 1-1-1 on this current homestand, including a 5-4 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday night.

Conor Garland, who will play his 500th NHL game on Tuesday, leads the Canucks with 12 points, while pending unrestricted free agent Kiefer Sherwood is the goal-scoring leader with 10 through 17 games.

The Canucks roster also features a pair of former Jets in defenceman Tyler Myers and left-winger Evander Kane — who has three goals and nine points in 17 games with his hometown team after arriving in an off-season trade with the Edmonton Oilers.

Connor Hellebuyck is back between the pipes for the Jets, while the Canucks counter with Thatcher Demko, who sat out the past two games for maintenance purposes.

The two netminders could be teammates with the United States in Italy in February, with Hellebuyck looking to maintain the starting role he earned at the 4 Nations Face-Off and Demko trying to show he’s healthy enough to compete with Jake Oettinger, Jeremy Swayman and Joey Daccord for the No. 2 and No. 3 jobs on the depth chart.

—Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

FROM THE PRESS BOX

MIKE SAYS: Operation “Save The Road Trip” begins in earnest tonight and you better believe the Jets are happy to be out of California.

With a bit of time on my hands, I’m on holidays this week while Kenny is covering the club, I did a little checking under the hood to see what the underlying numbers are showing.

Spoiler: The Jets are getting what they deserve and, quite frankly, are fortunate to even have the record they do.

Consider this: Despite the fact they are tied for eighth in the NHL in point percentage, here’s where they rank in the following advanced statistical categories according to Natural Stat Trick:

*Corsi For Percentage (what % of the overall shot attempt share a team has in its games): 29th at 45.40% (Carolina is No. 1 at 57.65%)*Shot For Percentage (what % of the overall shots on goal a team has in its games): 25th at 47.87% (Colorado is No. 1 at 57.08%)*Expected Goals For Percentage (what % of the overall expected goals a team has scored in its games): 29th at 47.09% (Colorado is No. 1 at 58.21%)*Scoring Chance For Percentage (what % of the overall scoring chances a team has in its games): 30th at 45.86% (Colorado is No. 1 at 57.63%)

The above numbers are actually worse for the Jets if you just look at even strength play. They are 30th in Corsi For Percentage, 30th in Shot For Percentage, 31st in Expected Goal Percentage and 32nd in Scoring Chance For Percentage.

Yikes.

So how exactly are they 9-6-0? Having the second-best save percentage in the NHL (91.16%, trailing only Chicago who are 92.06%) is a huge part of the story. And having slightly above-average special teams is really the other.

Bottom line: The Jets are going to have to vastly improve some or all of the above metrics or they are in for plenty of three (or more) game losing streaks this season. Let’s see if they can start taking some strides in the right direction tonight.

KEN SAYS: Math isn’t always my strong suit, but in order to try and salvage a .500 record on this road trip, the Jets will need to put together another three-game winning streak.

You can’t erase the past three games with one strong effort, but that’s all the Jets will be looking to do here.

Put one win in their back pocket and then try to stack another on Thursday in Seattle against the Kraken, who blanked the Jets in Winnipeg last month.

Probably the most concerning thing to come out of the last three games for the Jets is that they’ve been piling up the self-inflicted wounds that they’ve so often forced upon their opponents during the past several seasons.

The Jets’ top line has carried them in many games throughout the first quarter of this season, but they were outscored 2-1 at even-strength on Sunday and they’ll be looking for a bounce-back effort.

Forward Cole Perfetti had nearly 18 minutes of ice time in his return to the Jets’ lineup and while there was some rust to shake off after missing the first 14 games of the season, he had a Grade A scoring chance to go along with six shot attempts.

Perfetti and Joanthan Toews showed some early signs of chemistry and with more reps, that should continue to grow.

For the Canucks, I’ll be keeping a close eye on Brock Boeser, who was believed to be one of the top free agent targets for the Jets but ended up signing a new deal with Vancouver on July 1.

Boeser, who played at the University of North Dakota, is someone the Jets would have envisioned playing on the second line with Toews (a fellow UND alum) and Perfetti.

Boeser is off to a steady start to the season, with seven goals and 11 points, which leaves him tied for second in team scoring with Sherwood and top-line centre Elias Pettersson.

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

FORWARDS:Connor-Scheifele-VilardiNamestnikov-Toews-PerfettiNiederreiter-Lowry-IafalloPearson-Ford-Chibrikov

DEFENCE:Morrissey-DeMeloStanley-PionkFleury-Schenn

GOAL:HellebuyckComrie

INJURED: D Samberg (wrist), F Barron (mid-body), F Nyquist (lower body), F Koepke (undisclosed)

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Miller, F Lambert

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

FORWARDS:Kane-E. Pettersson-GarlandBoeser-Reichel-SherwoodO’Connor-Raty-DeBruskBains-Sasson-Karlsson

DEFENCE:

Hughes-HronekM. Pettersson-MyersElias Pettersson-Willander

GOAL:DemkoLankinen

INJURED: D Forbort (undisclosed), D Mancini (upper body), D Brisebois (lower body), C Chytil (upper body), C Blueger (undisclosed), RW Lekkerimaki (undisclosed), LW Hoglander (lower body).

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: G Patera, D Joseph, LW MacEachern

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Jets head coach Scott Arniel on what his team is generating offensively during the past three games, where they’ve been held to two goals:

“Actually, our numbers offensively, we’re getting opportunities, we’re just not putting the puck in the net. We knew that sooner or later, (Mark Scheifele’s) line carries a lot of our offence — and they have been early on — but we need some other people to step up. In the Chicago, Pittsburgh games, we were getting it (offence) throughout (the lineup). A couple of the other guys stepped in and now we need that.”

WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON

After taking in the Hockey Hall of Fame festivities honouring Winnipegger Jennifer Botterill, among others, Ken arrived in Vancouver and will provide analysis from the final three games of the road trip in Vancouver, Seattle and Calgary. He will have an early story on the recent slide. With the late start, you can find the piece online at winnipegfreepress.com.

Plus, a friendly reminder that the Jets monthly mailbag for November is open, so send your questions to Mike and Ken at your convenience either by email or on social media.