Jets’ gritty fourth-liners prove their worth

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/05/2021 (1573 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They’ve been quietly heralded by their teammates all season long, and no doubt have caught the eye of adoring fans who see the value in what the Winnipeg Jets fourth line has been able to achieve this year.

And that success rose to an entirely new level in Wednesday’s 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their opening-round, best-of-seven playoff series. Indeed, the trio of Trevor Lewis, Nate Thompson and Dominic Toninato, who was playing in just his third game with the Jets, combined for a goal and two assists, and were a plus-4. And each logged fewer than 10 minutes of ice time.

While not stealing a ton of ice from their fellow teammates, it’s a role they take seriously and believe it’s the kind of effort that will lead to more as the playoffs move on. Getting a solid contribution from your fourth line is vital in any game, but it’s even more crucial come playoffs.

“I think it becomes probably more important. I don’t know if the role changes at all, but you look at all the teams that are successful in the playoffs and sometimes some nights the first and second line will cancel each other out and it comes down to the third and fourth lines kind of being that X factor,” Thompson said. “So, I think it gets to be pretty important at this time of year.”

Maurice was asked to explain post-game Wednesday the key contributions from the players lowest on his depth chart. He echoed much of what Thompson said, calling it consistent with what he’s seen over his decades-long coaching career.

“We’ve just seen that so many times,” Maurice said. “It’s the grit-and-grind guys who go to the net, put the puck to the net, stand in front of the net, it’s their game all year long and playoff hockey gets to become like their game and they’re good at it.”

DUBOIS AND EHLERS WATCH: The Jets will likely go with the same lineup for Game 2 Friday, unless they get some good news from the team’s medical staff.

The statuses of centre Pierre-Luc Dubois and winger Nikolaj Ehlers remain up in the air, even if they are, according to Maurice, making notable progress.

They both skated in Thursday’s optional skate, with Dubois shedding his yellow, non-contact jersey. That wasn’t the case for Ehlers, though Maurice said they both were engaged physically in their workouts.

“I’ll tell you they were both in non-contact, but it’s controlled. So, we don’t have a lot of guys out there. The non-contact jersey is more for when you get into five-on-five play and the guys close and he wants to get a little bit of bumping in so everybody knows to lay off,” Maurice explained. “But you can have guys in non-contact jerseys go through controlled heavy contact, but they’ll go one on one in the corners and its controlled. We put them in non-contact a lot of times just if they’re in any kind of chaotic drill they’re easy to find.”

So, will either player be in the lineup for Game 2?

“There is a chance. We’ll get them into tomorrow and make that decision. Two more days has been really good for both of them,” Maurice said. “But, premature for me to put them in tomorrow as of what I know today. We’ll wait for tomorrow and see where they’re at.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton