So, about that second period…

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This article was published 21/12/2016 (3256 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — It has been the only reliably consistent thing about the Winnipeg Jets this season — their remarkable inconsistency.

From week to week, game to game and even period to period, this has been a roller-coaster season from day one for the Jets.

They play great at home — they’re 10-6-1 at the MTS Centre — but are lousy on the road — where their record fell to 5-11-2 with a 4-1 loss to the Canucks Tuesday night in which the Jets were, you guessed it, wildly inconsistent.

They got swept on a five-game road trip last month, only to promptly win four of their next five, only to promptly lose their next four, only to promptly win the next two, only to promptly dribble away a chance to finally get back to .500 Tuesday night.

They’ve won two in a row six times this season; they’ve won three in a row precisely zero times.

They’re good against the Central Division — 8-4-1. They’re lousy against the Pacific Division — 2-5-0.

And the wild fluctuations extend to within games. Third period and overtime? The Jets are world-beaters — they’ve scored more goals in the final period and OT this season than any team in the NHL except the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But the problem — and it’s a huge one that was on display yet again here Tuesday night — is the Jets pair strong starts and strong finishes with an atrocious second period — the 48 goals Winnipeg has given up in the middle frame this year is worst in the league by nine goals.

So how can that be? How can a team that shows such flashes of brilliance one moment be so bad the next?

And, more importantly, does Jets head coach Paul Maurice have any insights on how to fix the problem?

“Yeah, I’ve got a fairly detailed idea of what happens,” Maurice told reporters here Wednesday following an off-day skate in advance of the Jets facing the Canucks here again at Rogers Arena this evening in the rematch of a rare two-game set.

“You look at our first periods — our willingness to play a certain style of game is strong. If we could extend that over three (periods), we might be the best defensive team in the National Hockey League.

“But it’s hard, and it’s taxing. And then we get into the second period… and the order of business there would be turnovers, shift length and penalties, the cumulative reasons why we’re not as strong in the second…

“A complex problem. Yeah.”

The easy answer to some of the consistency problems this season would seem to be that this is a very young Jets team that is still learning the grind of an NHL season, but it seems to go deeper than that with these guys. The good teams find a way to smooth out the sharpest peaks and valleys of an 82-game regular season, so that when you look back on their season afterward it resembles a gentle wave rippling its way to shore.

And the Jets? Their season to date looks more like one of those widow-makers you see crashing on the north shore of Oahu. Yeah, it’s a wild ride, but the odds of survival are slim.

To a man — and this tells you a lot about what Maurice was telling his team after that loss to Vancouver Tuesday — the Jets players were talking Wednesday about stripping their game back to its basics, beginning with shift length.

‘When we take too-long shifts and get off our game plan because things aren’t working for us, that’s when it hurts us’– Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers 

If that sounds boring, well, boring might be the best thing possible for these drama kings at the moment.

“When we take too-long shifts and get off our game plan because things aren’t working for us, that’s when it hurts us,” said winger Nikolaj Ehlers. “And that’s just something we have to control and can’t happen anymore.”

The caveat here, of course, is this Jets team has been talking about smoothing out those second periods for the entire season now, and yet here we are, yet again, talking about the same old problem after a loss Tuesday night in which the Jets paired an aggressive and dominating first period with a timid second period in which they allowed Vancouver to simply grab the game by the throat and never let go.

Why is a problem that has been so clearly identified as a problem for so long now still, well, a problem?

“I don’t have an answer for you,” said Jets centre Mark Scheifele. “It’s the way hockey goes. Obviously, it’s not something we plan on doing. It’s just a matter of preparing ourselves, not gripping our sticks too tight and just keeping that same mentality we come out with and just kind of reset ourselves.”

The good news for the Jets is help could be on the way as early as today. Injured forwards Shawn Matthias and Joel Armia once again practised Wednesday, and Maurice was coy when asked if either man could return to the lineup on Thursday.

“There’s always a chance,” said Maurice. “They’re rounding nicely.” 

email: paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek