‘There’s no better teammate’

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This article was published 14/04/2023 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DENVER – The clock had almost run out in Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Wild when all hell broke loose.

The Jets held a commanding 3-1 lead on a night that had already seen several questionable plays between the two Central Division rivals, two of which would later result in a fine and a suspension. With the Wild clearly upset with how things were going in their own barn, in front of a home crowd that had booed them off the ice during the second intermission, it was time to send a message.

Despite being on the power play, Wild head coach Dean Evason opted to put out resident tough guy Ryan Reaves, easily among the most feared players in the NHL. Reaves took his spot at right wing, where he would lean over to Mason Appleton, who is nearly 30 pounds lighter, and inform the Jets forward that they were about to exchange fisticuffs.

Enter Adam Lowry.

“Appy is telling me, ‘No, don’t do it,’ but sometimes you see red, sometimes you don’t make the smartest decisions,” Lowry told the Free Press ahead of Thursday’s 4-2 regular-season finale loss to the Colorado Avalanche. “There’s only seconds left on the clock and the game is pretty much over at that point, but it’s important to send a message to your teammates that you got their back, that we’re in this together. It’s not one of the smartest things I’ve done, but at the same time I don’t think I’d change anything either.”

Risking injury, Lowry dropped the gloves with Reaves, and after tossing a few punches each way, he ended the fight with a takedown. As Reaves’ body hit the ice, the Jets bench erupted, with the emotion lasting well after the final buzzer, as Lowry was universally celebrated in the locker room.

It was yet another moment, in a string of many over the last several weeks, that Lowry had made a significant impact on a game. He had also opened the scoring, registering his 13th goal of the season just 3:53 into the opening frame.

“That’s Adam. As I’ve gotten to know him the last two years there’s no better teammate, no better guy that exemplifies leadership,” Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon said. “He didn’t have to fight there but he’s not going to stand for that stuff. He cares so much about everyone in that locker room.”

Hockey is a team sport. It’s near impossible to have any kind of notable success without everyone pulling in the same direction.

But as the Jets have slowly found their game again over the last couple of months, and particularly over the last few weeks, there’s an argument to be made that no one has had a greater impact — outside of perhaps goaltender Connor Hellebuyck — than that of Lowry.

“He’s a big part of it. Everyone has to jump in on the resurgence and everyone has to do their job. Adam has certainly done his job,” Jets head coach Rick Bowness said. “Adam has had a huge impact on this team since day one — it’s getting more recognized now because he’s scoring goals — but for me and the coaching staff, he’s been like this all year. The puck just wasn’t going in for a while for him.”

Bowness was referring to a stretch earlier in the season where Lowry went 35 games without scoring a single goal. While better known for centring the Jets’ third line, a role that comes with shutting down the opponent’s best players, as well as a key figure on the club’s penalty kill, a unit that has been top-5 in the NHL all season, the lack of offensive production did begin to take its toll.

Lowry said he leaned on Appleton, his longtime linemate, for support during his goalless drought, while trying to find other ways to contribute. Eventually, things started to click again, with Lowry scoring a respectable six times over the last 20 games, including twice in the last three, while adding four assists for 10 points.

Perhaps most impressive, and something his coaches and teammates have come to admire, is Lowry’s ability to remain composed through the tough times. There are a lot of players in the NHL, including some on the Jets, that have admitted to being affected mentally while going through a rough stretch.

“He was still such a good teammate in the room, so positive. When the goals aren’t going for you, it can weigh on you as a player, especially as a forward,” Dillon said. “But he was finding other ways to contribute — he was finishing his checks, he was blocking shots and just finding other parts of the game to be effective when the offence wasn’t there.”

Lowry has found major chemistry with new line mate Nino Niederreiter, who, along with Appleton, will play a key role for the Jets as they begin Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Western-Conference leading Vegas Golden Knights. The series kicks off in Sin City, with Games 1 and 2 set for Tuesday and Thursday.

“Our line, with our size and physicality, we need to be the difference in tightly-contested games,” Lowry said. “Our line takes a lot of pride in how we play and we want to be difference makers. We’ve been able to provide that secondary scoring at different times for our team and take that pressure off the top-6 guys. That’s what you need to win in the playoffs, you need contributions from places where you don’t necessarily expect it every night.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton