Jets out of their depth

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/01/2022 (1323 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to talented forwards in their lineup. Few teams across the NHL boast the kind of scoring potential, with the likes of Kyle Connor, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Mark Scheifele, Andrew Copp and Nikolaj Ehlers all with at least 10 goals and 25 points this season.

But when you dig deeper down the roster, there’s a noticeable drop in production, particularly when it comes to scoring goals. Simply put, the players outside of the Jets top two lines — commonly known as the “bottom six” — just aren’t cashing in.

“The bottom line is we just expect more out of ourselves. I expect more out of myself,” said Jets centre Adam Lowry, who has three goals and seven points in 38 games, with no goals in his last 15. “It’s one of those things where you can watch film, you can do things in practice but ultimately it’s about executing in a game. We’ve generated some chances and now it’s about converting on those.”

He added: “You’re just trying to find a way to make a difference in a game and come up and get a key goal or contribute positively here and that’s something, definitely from myself, we’re going to need more of in the second half.”

The Jets rely on their top-end forwards to score a majority of their goals, which is common for most NHL clubs. That’s why the above-mentioned names, as well as Blake Wheeler (2G, 17A, 24 GP) and Paul Stastny (8G, 9A, 27GP), both of whom also log top-end minutes, are among the team’s highest paid players.

But depth scoring is a key ingredient for any successful team. With it, you can find a way to squeeze out valuable points on nights when your best players don’t have their scoring touch. Without it, it can often lead to being on the wrong side of close games, as we’ve seen several times from the Jets in recent weeks.

“It’s going to be critical for the other guys playing those minutes to find a way to contribute, not just trying to play net-even,” Lowry added. “Sometimes the other two lines aren’t going to be going. You need some goals at key times from some unlikely people; it’s something we’re all pretty aware of. We haven’t had a lot of production pretty much the entire year from our group so it’s something in the second half we definitely need to improve upon if we want to be a team that’s going to push for the playoffs and a team that’s ultimately going to get in.”

The Jets average 2.89 goals per game, which is good enough for 19th place among 32 NHL teams. That number has dipped slightly over the last 14 games, with the Jets registering 37 goals, for an average of 2.64 goals.

Over that 14-game stretch, only two goals have been scored by players on the bottom six. Jansen Harkins, while on a fourth line with Dominic Toninato and Austin Poganski, opened the scoring in what turned out to be a 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins Saturday. Before that, it was Kristian Reichel, while also on the fourth line, scoring early in the second period in a 5-4 overtime win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Jan.2.

Of the Jets’ 110 goals this season, a grand total of 12, spanning a combined nine games, have been scored by a forward playing on the bottom two lines. In those nine games, the Jets are 6-3.

“We always talk about it, if you’re not scoring, you better be doing something else right and that’s what the expectation is,” Jets head coach Dave Lowry said. “Everybody needs more scoring and when you’re not winning hockey games, it becomes even more magnified, and you put pressure on your top guys. We expect them to score, we expect them to create offence, but we also expect them to check. So, when we talk about the depth scoring, we expect them to play a certain way and we do expect them as well to chip in offensively.”

The Florida Panthers, who were in town to play the Jets Tuesday night, haven’t had the same problems; they’ve been getting contributions from up and down the lineup. The Panthers are averaging four goals a game, which is just behind the Colorado Avalanche (4.1) for the most in the NHL.

With that kind of production, it’s no surprise that heading into Tuesday’s games the Panthers and Avalanche lead their respective conferences, with Florida (28-9-5) pacing the East and Colorado (29-8-3) the West, each with 61 points. By comparison, the Jets (17-14-7) are currently 11th place in the Western Conference, three points out of the final playoff spot.

To further hammer home the importance of scoring, whether it be from the top two lines or bottom six, the Panthers rank 15th in goals against, with an average of 2.83 goals per game, just one spot better than the Jets at 16th (2.89). The Avalanche allow more goals than both clubs, sitting in 18th, with an average of 2.95 goals against.

Florida arrived in Winnipeg having scored 67 goals over its past 14 games — 30 more than the Jets over the same span of games. That’s an average of 4.78 goals per game.

“They play fast, they play direct, and they put a lot of pucks at the net,” Dave Lowry said. “They get volume shots, they stop in and around the net and obviously, if you look at some of their players, they’re very offensive, they’re very dynamic and they’re world-class players.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton