Jets working to ensure no repeat of ‘23 meltdown

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This article was published 22/04/2024 (532 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Here they go again? Not if they can help it.

We take you back to last spring, when the Winnipeg Jets were feeling pretty good about themselves after drawing first blood in the Stanley Cup playoffs. It turned out to be a short-lived euphoria, followed up with four consecutive losses to the Vegas Golden Knights that left head coach Rick Bowness feeling “disappointed and disgusted.”

Naturally, the topic came up Monday, with the local NHL team once again up 1-0 in a best-of-seven opening-round series, this time against the Colorado Avalanche.

“I wouldn’t say more guarded. I think it’s more of just being aware,” Bowness said of how recent history might impact the current mindset of his club, which includes a similar core from a year ago.

Bowness sees huge differences this time around. Winnipeg played a near-perfect Game 1 against Vegas to secure the victory, while the Jets were far from their best in downing the Avalanche 7-6 on Sunday night.

“We won Game 1 last year and then we kind of took our foot off the gas pedal a little bit in the second game. It’s the exact opposite. We need to put our foot on the pedal (in Game 2),” he said, following a team meeting and optional skate at the downtown rink. “Vegas came out at us hard in the second. Well, we’ve got to come out hard (Tuesday).”

Yes, the team that put up a converted touchdown and is three wins away from advancing feels it has a lot more to offer, which is a scary thought for opponents but, perhaps, a sign of how far this group has really come. A win is a win, sure. But the process by which it was achieved must improve.

“First of all, give the Avalanche credit. That’s the best game, by far, that they’ve played against us all year,” said Bowness, whose team went 3-0-0 against the Avalanche and outscored them 17-4 during the regular-season.

“That was by far their most aggressive game. They came at us very hard in all three zones. It wasn’t that we over-analyzed our game. That had nothing to do with it. They came really hard. So, did we respond the way we wanted to respond? No. We didn’t. But give them credit to the way they played and now it’s up to us to make sure we make some minor adjustments and make sure we’re going to answer the bell.”

“We won’t over-analyze it. Do we have to make some adjustments to the way we played? Absolutely. That’s our job.”– Rick Bowness

There’s no shortage of video for coaches to go through with players, given the high-event nature of Sunday’s contest. But Bowness said he’s being careful not to overload his troops with too much, especially since their self-awareness is higher than ever.

“We won’t over-analyze it. Do we have to make some adjustments to the way we played? Absolutely. That’s our job,” he said. ”The rest of it has to come from the players. They were very honest (Monday). They know they didn’t play their A-game.”

Cleaning up their own end of the ice is priority one, as the Jets were badly outshot (46-23) and spent way too much time defending. Poor puck management was the primary cause.

“I think we know that we have (can be) a lot better, and we kind of talked about it after the game,” said forward Tyler Toffoli. His line with Nikolaj Ehlers and Sean Monahan had a quiet night, as it wasn’t on the ice for any goals either for or against.

“It almost felt like we were forcing things and not holding on to pucks when we could’ve and should’ve and kind of threw it away,” he said. “Little things like that, that I think that the three of us, that’s the best part of our game is being able to make plays and holding onto pucks. We’ll take it, and we’ll move forward and, hopefully, do some better things with the puck and produce (Tuesday).”

Bowness identified a couple key areas of concern: slow puck movement out of their own zone, a lack of puck support from others on the ice, and giving Colorado too much time and space through the neutral zone to get into Winnipeg’s end and establish possession without much of a fight.

“It’s their entries. They got in way too easy and we didn’t pick up that second wave of defencemen coming up. They were able to get in and it wasn’t one and done,” he said.

Another area of improvement is the penalty kill. Easier said than done, of course. The Jets only took a pair of minor penalties in Game 1, but the Avalanche converted on both power plays in the third period.

“That will be addressed,” said the veteran bench boss. “That will be cleaned up, for sure.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg