Jets appear to have lost their way

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This article was published 05/06/2021 (1607 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets, it would seem, have lost their way.

That spells major trouble for a team that could do no wrong in an unlikely first-round sweep of the Edmonton Oilers but now looks like a shell of its once-confident self against the Montreal Canadiens. A lacklustre 1-0 loss on Friday night at Bell MTS Place, Winnipeg’s second straight on home ice to kick off the North Division final, has them in a big hole as the best-of-seven series shifts to Quebec for the next two.

The Habs look crisp and confident. The Jets, tentative and tight. And time is quickly running out to flip that script.

Sure, the effort in this latest loss was there, but the execution certainly wasn’t, nor was the urgency until the final few minutes when Winnipeg made a bit of a push but future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Carey Price shut them down.

He might want to send a “Thank-you” card to the Jets for helping to make his night a bit easier, considering the number of times they got in their own way. Andrew Copp was a puck magnet, taking two slapshots to his body while trying to establish a net-front presence. There were plenty of other examples as well, including a Logan Stanley blast that hit Nikolaj Ehlers, rather than the back of Montreal’s net. You get the painful picture.

Nobody said the path to the Stanley Cup semifinal was going to be easy, but it wasn’t supposed to be this difficult, was it?

After all, the Jets were the healthy, rested bunch, enjoying a nine-day break between series while the Canadiens fought for their lives, winning three straight elimination games to upset the heavily-favoured Toronto Maple Leafs. The first two of those wins were in overtime, the last one in Game 7 on Monday night, and the visitors barely had time to catch their breath as a new series got underway 48 hours later.

Winnipeg also had home-ice advantage, with 500 fully vaccinated healthcare workers cheering them on from the downtown rink, a motivational boost if ever there was going to be one.

What the heck happened?

Some of the wounds are self-inflicted, such as top centre Mark Scheifele taking himself out of the lineup with a foolish, split-second decision to drill a vulnerable Jake Evans in the final minute of Wednesday’s Game 1 loss that cost him a four-game suspension and might ultimately be the turning point.

The Jets sure could have used their point-per-game superstar in Game 2, where offence was almost impossible to come by. His absence looms large and created a domino effect that impacted all four forward lines looking entirely different on Friday.

Pierre-Luc Dubois, who still can’t get out of first gear most nights with his new club, was suddenly the top-line centre. Copp was again asked to move into the middle, with Paul Stastny missing a second straight contest with an injury apparently suffered during all that idle practice time.

Kristian Vesalainen, who drew into the lineup for Scheifele, began the night on the third line, and later moved up into the top six as coach Paul Maurice got the blender out midway through the game, trying to find a spark. And Jansen Harkins also made his series debut on the fourth line, taking the spot previously occupied by Dominic Toninato.

That’s a lot of change in a short period of time. And it perhaps explains why the Jets looked so lost and discombobulated at times, struggling to complete passes, break out of their own end smoothly, generate much of anything through the neutral zone and get any sustained offensive-zone time.

The absence of Scheifele and Stastny certainly loomed large on the power play, where the Jets not only went 0-for-2, but coughed up the only goal of the game in the form of a short-handed tally by Tyler Toffoli. A missed check and passive fly-by from Kyle Connor, who got neither puck nor body on the play, was costly. That simply can’t happen at this time of year, not when the margin for error is so slim.

And a one-goal deficit less than two minutes into the second period may as well have been four or five given how little the Jets could generate.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t tip my cap to Dominique Ducharme and his Habs, who have clearly carried over all the momentum gained by shutting down Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and company in the first round.

Their attention to detail, especially when it comes to defence, is impressive. And if there’s any fatigue as a result of playing so much high-stakes hockey in a short period of time, we’re not seeing it. They seem perfectly built for this kind of low-event, grinding style of hockey, with four balanced lines, a big, tough and talented blue line and a great blend of cagey veterans and young speedsters.

They look fresh and energetic, and no doubt are carrying a bit of a chip on their shoulder too as a result of losing Evans in the way they did. Rather than come out looking for blood on Friday, they played a patient, disciplined and completely boring road game that worked to their advantage.

It wasn’t pretty to watch — they won’t be sending tape of this game to the Hall of Fame, that’s for sure — but it was awfully effective.

If the Jets are pushing the panic button, they’re not showing it publicly. Never let ’em see you sweat seemed to be their unofficial post-game motto given how player after player spoke about progress from Game 1 to Game 2 and how they’re headed in the right direction.

I’m not so sure about that. There’s no such thing as moral victories right now. If Winnipeg can’t find a way to quickly regain their previous form, they’re going to be coming home from Montreal early next week empty-handed, a promising opportunity that was staring them in the face just a few days ago having been permanently slammed shut.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg