Nailbiters the norm for Jets

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This article was published 15/02/2021 (1665 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not necessarily a place they want to stay. But the Winnipeg Jets have become accustomed to living on the edge this season, walking a fine line between success and failure.

On the positive side, you’ll recall the Jan. 19 game in Ottawa in which they tied it up with 1:17 left in the third period, then pulled out the victory in overtime. Or the Feb. 1 meeting with Calgary, where they found the equalizer with 1:50 to play before ultimately falling in a shootout.

On the negative side, there was the Jan. 24 heartbreaker which saw Edmonton score the winner with 0.7 seconds left in regulation. Followed by the Feb. 9 affair in Calgary where the Flames broke the tie with 1:50 left. Or, most recently, last Saturday’s dagger against Ottawa in which they coughed up the winner with eight seconds remaining in the final frame.

So what gives? Some teams might go an entire season without that many games coming down to the wire. The Jets have already experienced five such pulse-pounding events in their first 14 contests.

Last minute of play in the hockey game? You might not want to touch that dial, since there’s a good chance something eventful is about to happen, for better or for worse.

“I think that can just go to what our division is. When you play a team three (times) in a row, you kind of figure out each other and what they’re good at, what they’re bad at. It’s like a mini-series, and usually in a series you get a lot of tight hockey games,” Jets forward Mason Appleton said Monday prior to the start of a four-game road trip through Edmonton and Vancouver.

“Obviously we want to clean up things in the last minute and don’t get scored on. Obviously easier said than done. It just goes to show how good this division is and anyone can win on any night.”

There’s no question the condensed schedule, and seeing the same six opponents either nine or 10 times this year, is creating some unique challenges. And the general consensus seems to be there could be a lot more last-minute thrill of victory and/or agony of defeat on the horizon.

“I think it’s a function of playing the same teams over and over again, to be honest. Lots of video. Teams can make adjustments. It’s almost like playoff series, like we come on the road here for Edmonton for two games, it’s very similar to what we would do if there was a playoff series, come here on the road and all your focus, all your time is on that one team and that’s why I think you’re seeing a lot of close games,” said Jets forward Kyle Connor.

“I think it’s going to make our team better for playoffs as well. It’s almost that mentality throughout the whole year.”

Of course, the trick is you have to actually make the playoffs to put that battle-tested mindset to the test. Considering all 56 games this year are divisional ones, a late-game rally or collapse will be either more valuable, or costly, than ever before.

Winnipeg has snagged three points so far in those two games where they scored late to push it to overtime. But they’ve also now squandered anywhere from three to six points by not getting those three tied games at least beyond regulation.

“Definitely this season, those sting. We’ve had a couple of late ones. But if you look at the positives, we’ve been in every game, we’ve fought right until the end. Ultimately, when you don’t get the job done, it’s disheartening. But playing the same teams over and over, you feel like you have an opportunity to redeem yourself,” said defenceman Nathan Beaulieu.

Jets coach Paul Maurice doesn’t think three late losses are a symptom of his team losing focus when the game is on the line, any more so than the same could be said about the Senators and Flames having late leads vanish Winnipeg.

“I don’t think there’s more to this story, because we’ve looked at it,” he said. “I don’t feel in those games, most notably the Ottawa game, that we had a lead and the other team just started coming, they got on us and we couldn’t break the puck out and we got hemmed in and they dominated us in the third period.”

The loss to Edmonton was a wild, back-and-forth affair in which Winnipeg had actually erased a one-goal deficit late in the third period with two straight goals, only to quickly surrender two of their own. The one to Calgary last Tuesday was courtesy of a late penalty to Beaulieu they couldn’t kill off. And the Ottawa one came on a miscue between goalie Connor Hellebuyck and defencemen Neal Pionk and Derek Forbort which led to a turnover and the winning goal.

“I rarely like to say bad break, but it was just one of those ones you don’t like at all,” said Maurice. “I don’t think there’s a theme, because I haven’t felt the other team, or the trailing team in our sense of time, was dominating and it was just a great big pushback.”

Bottom line: Whether it’s a case of parity, or familiarity, or both, there might be a lot more nailbiters still to come this season.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg