You want the truth? Jets have both refs and selves to blame

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/01/2020 (2168 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL — Yes, the Winnipeg Jets were angry. Like fist-pounding, vein-popping, Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men kind of angry.

You want the truth? Coach Paul Maurice and his players believe the deck was stacked against them Saturday in St. Paul, where a 2-1 lead late in the third period turned into a 3-2 overtime loss that cost them a valuable point to a divisional rival.

Many feel it’s part of a continuing recent pattern, where all the bad calls and bad breaks are going against them. Sure, if you break down their most recent outing, they appear to have some valid concerns in wondering just who ordered the Code Red.

Josh Morrissey was crushed from behind, right on the numbers, despite not even having the puck, with his team nursing a one-goal lead and the clock ticking down. Somehow, neither referee on the ice felt Kevin Fiala did anything wrong, and it was later in the same shift that Minnesota — which should have been shorthanded for a textbook boarding and/or interference call — scored to tie the game with just over five minutes left in regulation.

Then Blake Wheeler was sent to the sin bin in the three-on-three skills sessions for slashing the stick out of the hands of Mats Zuccarello, and the captain believes the Wild forward made it all too easy with a flimsy grip. Loose lips sink ships. And loose sticks get your team valuable power plays, I suppose.

But wait, there was more controversy to come. On the ensuing man advantage, Eric Staal jammed home a loose puck despite Zach Parise clearly bumping Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck. Winnipeg’s challenge was denied, with officials ruling Jets defencemen Tucker Poolman and Anthony Bitetto were to blame for the impact. That’s certainly debatable, and Parise didn’t appear to do anything to brace himself against the type of contact that always happens net-front.

The goal stood. The game was over. And the Jets were spitting fire, at least privately. Publicly, they more or less took the high road and bit their tongues, with Maurice suggesting after the game that he wasn’t going to give the NHL the satisfaction of fining him. “Not one dime,” he sneered, before ending the media gab session early after I asked him about the Morrissey hit and he suggested continuing to talk was “gonna get expensive.”

Other players involved, such as Hellebuyck and Bitetto, refused requests to talk, no doubt believing they wouldn’t be able to contain their rage and would end up lighter in the wallet. Call it the John Tortorella effect, as the volatile Columbus bench boss was recently dinged $20,000 for blasting inept clock management by officials that may have cost his team a victory.

A quick aside — the same veteran referee involved in the middle of the Tortorella affair, Dan O’Halloran, was also working Saturday’s Jets-Wild game.

And you’ll recall he was also involved in the San Jose – Vegas major penalty playoff debacle last spring, which turned the tide of that entire season and ended up being the last post-season game he worked. The 55-year-old is retiring at the end of this year, and I suspect there are many in the league thinking it can’t happen soon enough.

So, yeah, the Jets have a beef or two. But here’s the thing, with apologies to all you folks out there adjusting your tin foil hats with visions of some grand conspiracy at play. There’s no such thing. Sadly, this was just another typical night in the NHL, where the standard of officiating can change like the wind. And the Jets are hardly alone in feeling like they got robbed. Montreal and New Jersey also had legitimate issues with calls made in their games which had players and coaches fuming.

On any given night, it could have been three other teams ready to go nuclear. The best anyone can hope for, it appears, is for these things to balance out in the end.

But let me suggest that if the Jets are compiling a list of wrongs, they might want to take a long look in the mirror and point the finger of blame at themselves. After all, it was Winnipeg which grabbed the lead in the opening minute of the third period against Minnesota, only to completely get away from their game and adopt a “hold on for dear life” strategy. Outshot 16-4 in the final 20 minutes, the Jets didn’t exactly help their own cause.

Fortunately, they appear to recognize this, and perhaps are ready to use this latest setback as a sort of fuel to the fire that was already burning from a recent lacklustre stretch of play that has their playoff spot hanging by a thread.

“That’s the only thing we can do. We can harness it a little bit and use it as motivation for this next one. Because at the end of the day we did not get the two points but we were right there. Played a pretty good game, but there’s definitely some things we can improve on,” said Hellebuyck, who had calmed down enough to speak following Sunday’s practice at Bell Center.

Waiting for them on Monday is a surly Montreal squad, which is also coming off an overtime loss on Saturday night in which they felt goaltender Carey Price was interfered with, only to have the call on the ice stand. Now winless in their last five and 18-17-7 overall, the Canadiens are in danger of falling completely out of the Eastern Conference playoff race.

“It’s a tough loss. We battled hard, but right now we have to turn the page. It’s a big game (Monday) and we need those two points. It’s been tough lately so we need to focus and play as a team,” said forward Gabriel Bourque.

The Jets shouldn’t need a reminder of what they’re up against — Montreal’s last victory was a 6-2 beatdown of Winnipeg at Bell MTS Place on Dec. 23. Which is perhaps why Maurice added some extra film study to Sunday’s off-ice session. Specifically, he wanted to focus on what his team has stopped doing — generating offensive zone time.

It won’t be an easy fix, but perhaps some good old fashioned hard work might just be the key to turning their recent misfortunes around. You have to be good to be lucky, and right now the Jets aren’t doing particularly well in either department.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg