Sending out an S.O.S.

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This article was published 14/03/2015 (4101 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TAMPA — It would be inaccurate to say the pressure is getting to Paul Maurice. It’s more like he’s allowing it to colour and flavour his message in hopes he can show his team now is the time for urgency.

The Jets haven’t had much oomph in their game of late, having dropped three of the last four and falling out of a wild-card playoff berth in the Western Conference.

No doubt, Maurice is pushing them behind closed doors and now, despite being a man normally reluctant to show all his cards in public, the head coach has allowed emotion, anger, blame and rationalization to leak into his words.

Maurice is calculating and uses his words to deliver a message knowing full well the extent and impact of his sound bites. Twice this week he’s strayed from his usual strategies in dealing with the media.

Even a veteran coach such as Maurice feels pressure, and while he’s faced many scenarios during his career, there are always new situations. Having an entire city of fans as well as key players in his room desperate for a chance at the post-season, Maurice is under the gun. The people want it, the players want it and so does management, as they so clearly showed in all their deadline maneuovering.

It’s not all on the coach. If the Jets fail to reach their goal, there will no shortage of accountability to spread around. But it was thought Maurice had transformed this team and this organization. Now they’ve stumbled and he’s charged with trying to get them marching again.

This week he took some new clubs out of his bag.

First, Maurice held goalie Ondrej Pavelec accountable for a miscue late in Tuesday’s game which cost his club at least one point.

“It went in. It was nothing more magical than that,” said Maurice, after Pavelec allowed a goal on a shot from just inside the red-line. No talk of losing as a team, or praise for Pavelec’s work in helping his team climb out of a three-goal hole. Maurice could have sheltered his goalie, could have let him off the hook. Nope, not even close.

Thursday, Maurice used injuries to explain why his team is struggling to generate offence. The Jets lost 4-2 to the Florida Panthers and had very little going on in the offensive zone. After the game, when asked why, Maurice offered the following: “Three (Bryan Little, Dustin Byfuglien and Mathieu Perreault) of our top five offensive players are out of the lineup. We pay those guys that kind of money for a reason.”

Again, this is a shift in approach. When Maurice’s blue-line was decimated earlier this season, he refused to hold a pity party and repeatedly said he would have six NHL defencemen in the lineup each night, and they’d find a way to operate.

On both accounts this week, Maurice was correct. Pavelec muffed a shot he should always stop. And yes, injuries to a team’s No. 1 centre, top offensive blue-liner and most creative winger can be offensively crippling.

Maurice has gone to great pains in his time as Jets coach to not single out individuals or use injuries as an excuse. Until now.

One could argue Maurice has protected his team after games or during stretches when they didn’t deserve his shield.

The coach has told the media time and again it’s not the team’s job to explain what goes on behind closed doors. Famously, he told one reporter he “could make him (expletive deleted) cry,” if he was in the dressing room during an accountability session.

When all of Winnipeg seemed to be screaming about the number of penalties the Jets were taking, Maurice shrugged and said, “We’re going to take penalties. It’s who we are.”

Maurice’s method of operation is well established. Don’t tear down the club in the media and don’t allow the inevitable circumstances of an NHL season, such as injuries, travel or schedule, to enter the conversation.

Now, with the season down to 14 games and his team having slipped below the playoff line for the first time since December, he’s gone rogue.

The coach is looking for sparks. First he used public accountability as flint, and when that proved ineffective he switched to rationalization. Is he reaching? Maybe, but what choice does he have? His team can’t score and his goaltending has evaporated.

There are no personnel answers for Maurice right now. The trade deadline is past and no one on the farm is ready to come up and add some juice. So he’s trying to influence his team’s spirit.

Maurice isn’t confused. What’s happening to his team right now is more clear to the coach than anyone else.

First the body and then the spirit have faltered. The coach can’t fix the injuries. But he can try to spur a deeper and more visceral reaction from his players.

Give the coach credit, he’s trying.

Whether or not he’s heard and the Jets start playing with punch, will tell us if this group really has changed.

Or if this is just another spring-time fade by the Jets known formerly as Thrashers.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @garylawless