TORONTO — The Winnipeg Jets woke up Wednesday morning one of the NHL’s top teams. Heading into the night’s slate of games, the Jets were tied for first place in the Western Conference, boasting an overall record of 29-15-1, with victories in eight of their last 10.

On the surface, there’s plenty to be proud of, especially for a group that missed the playoffs by 10 points last season. Dig a little deeper, however, and the Jets haven’t been happy with how they’ve been playing of late.

A need to improve their effort and consistency night-in and night-out has become the main talking point among the players, despite all of the club’s success this year. Winnipeg has lost twice over its last five games, including a dismal effort Tuesday in a 4-1 road loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

“Pittsburgh (game on Jan. 14, a 4-1 win) was a good template. We were around the puck, we didn’t give them a lot of space to do anything,” said Jets centre Mark Scheifele following practice at the Ford Performance Centre in Etobicoke, Ont. “The last number of games we haven’t gotten on them. We’ve played teams with skill that can make some plays and we’ve sagged off them as opposed to getting on them. We got to fix that a little bit.”

Jets head coach Rick Bowness has talked a lot this week about his club needing to be better in all areas of the ice, to better play within his system, one that is built on being the aggressor. On Wednesday, he acted by juggling his forward lines in an attempt to create a spark.

Bowness moved Blake Wheeler to the right wing of the top line, alongside Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kyle Connor. Morgan Barron was promoted to the second line, playing left wing on a trio that also includes Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers.

It’s a new-look third line of Cole Perfetti, Adam Lowry and Saku Maenalanen. That leaves a fourth line consisting of Karson Kuhlman and Sam Gagner playing the wings, with Kevin Stenlund down the middle.

“I’m not happy with the last five games, I’m not happy with the way those lines looked. So, we’re going to change it up. It’s as simple as that,” said Bowness. “It’s about the execution and get back to practising with pace again. The last couple of games we haven’t been able to sustain a high level of pace. When we get practice time like today, we have to take advantage of it.”

Wednesday was one of only a few opportunities the Jets have had to practice over the last six weeks. That’s not unusual for NHL teams, given their busy schedule – the Jets have averaged a game every other day the last two months — and the need to incorporate time for rest and recovery.

The Jets took full advantage of their 40 minutes on the ice, with several fast-paced drills focused on breakouts and the forecheck. It also provided the opportunity for the new-look forward group to build some chemistry ahead of stiff challenge Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“Just looking at how the last five games have gone, we haven’t loved how we’ve played, we haven’t loved our starts,” said Lowry. “Sometimes when you change things up, maybe you get a little more production out of different lines, just to sort of spark things. Earlier on in the year we were getting a lot more secondary scoring and it’s kind of dried up lately.”

Lowry used himself as an example as someone who’s been stuck in a scoring rut, having gone a full month without a goal and without a point in his last five games. He’s on pace to smash his career-high in points, making his own self-reflection a clear indication the expectations are high for this team.

There’s also a desire to get back on track before the end of the month, as the Jets will get a full week off for the NHL all-star break to start February. For a team with aspirations of going on a deep playoff run through May and a chance at the Stanley Cup come June, that final stretch of 30 games should see them playing their best hockey of the season.

“We talked about it at the start of this month where we kind of want to be at the end, some goals and things that we’ll keep to ourselves,” said Lowry. “You look at this stretch of 15 games this month and it’s about where we want to be, where we want to set ourselves up. Because coming out of the all-star break, there’s not a ton of hockey left to play, the trade deadline is coming up and teams are really jockeying for position in the standings.”

He added: “We might not have our legs or our hands might not be there, but our decision-making and the style of play, the work ethic is there every night and that’s what we’re trying to create, is that standard of consistency so that you know what to expect every night. We know there’s another level we can get to.”

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Given where the Jets are in the standings, they understand most nights they’re getting the other team’s best and can’t afford to take a night off. The Leafs, a team filled with weapons up and down the roster, will certainly provide another stiff challenge.

Toronto snapped a two-game losing streak Tuesday with a 5-4 overtime victory against the Florida Panthers. Before that, they had earned points in eight of their previous 10 games (7-2-1). They average 3.38 goals a game – ranked eighth, two spots better than Winnipeg (3.29) — and have a top-10 power play.

“They’re a great hockey club. Sheldon (Keefe) has done a wonderful job building a very tough team to play against defensively — and obviously, they can score,” said Bowness. “We want to get back to being the team that we know we can be, which is very hard to play against and hopefully that’s going to show itself (Thursday) night, which should be a great hockey game. Two great hockey teams from Canada going head-to-head, you’ve got to love it, man.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

After a slew of injuries playing hockey that included breaks to the wrist, arm, and collar bone; a tear of the medial collateral ligament in both knees; as well as a collapsed lung, Jeff figured it was a good idea to take his interest in sports off the ice and in to the classroom.

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