Disciplined play keeps Oilers top-ranked power play off ice

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This article was published 19/05/2021 (1838 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Given the overall success on the power play by the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers during the regular season, Jets head coach Paul Maurice wasn’t about to ignore the role special teams could play in their opening-round playoff series. Even if he hoped it wouldn’t.

“If you get the No. 1 power play in the league and the other power play ran third to sixth, there would be maybe not another series where you could predict that special teams would be the deciding factor, possibly, more than any other. Because they’re both capable of scoring at a really high rate on the chances that they get,” Maurice said after morning skate Wednesday, just hours ahead of Game 1 at Rogers Place.

“You’re going in against the No. 1 power play, so we want to stay out of the penalty box. We don’t want this to become a special-teams game, because they’ve been good at it against us as well, as you would expect with the people they put on the ice. So there’s a chance that’s the deciding factor in this series. We would prefer it’s not. Unless it’s for us. But I think we would look at special teams in this series being exceptionally critical, maybe more critical possibly, than other series.”

The Oilers had the most dangerous power play in the NHL this season, scoring 48 goals on 174 trips to the man-advantage – a success rate of 27.6 per cent. When you have players as skilled as forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and defencemen Tyson Barrie and Darnell Nurse, the last thing you want to give a group like that is time and space.

“They have a good power play and we do, too. Certainly want to limit their opportunities on it. You don’t want to give their best players free looks and ample touches to find their hands or find their confidence,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. “The more we can stay out of the box is going to play into our favour for sure. Also you just don’t want to make this into a power-play fest because I think we were both top five in the league but like I said, the more we can play 5-on-5, hopefully that can give us a boost.”

Maurice wasn’t kidding about the damage the Oilers have inflicted on the Jets penalty kill, with Edmonton scoring eight goals on 27 power-play opportunities.

The Jets finished seventh in the NHL, with a 23 per cent success rate, scoring on 37-of-161 attempts. As for their success against Edmonton, Winnipeg, despite going 2-7 against the Oilers this year, including six straight losses, has been quite successful on the power play. The Jets went 6-for-24 on the man-advantage against the Oilers, scoring a power-play goal in six of those games.

The Jets suffered a dry spell to close out the year, with Winnipeg registering just two goals on 30 power plays across the final 12 games of the season. Eager to regain their scoring touch, the Jets have worked on the power play all week leading up to puck drop.

“It’s going to be a different look because Nikolaj and Pierre-Luc aren’t in the lineup. So there’s your different look to start with. Yeah, we ran third for a chunk of the year and finished sixth, so we know it’s there. Had fallen off a little bit,” Maurice said. “So we’ve got a place we’re going to start, we’ve got a place to go. And then we come into Game 2 and we may have a completely different look, based on players in our lineup. So there’s lots of fluid things going on with our power play right now.”

Maurice would get his wish, as the Jets played a mostly disciplined hockey game. Winnipeg accounted for the only penalty — a high-stick infraction by Paul Stastny — and surrendered just one shot in what ended as a 4-1 Jets victory.

On the mend: The Jets were without two key contributors in their lineup, with centre Pierre-Luc Dubois and winger Nikolaj Ehlers ruled out by head coach Paul Maurice following Wednesday’s morning skate.

Ehlers has missed the last nine games with a shoulder injury, but has been skating the last 10 days, including participating in a few practices wearing a yellow, non-contact jersey. There has been no confirmed timeline for his return, but considering Ehlers has been working with the club’s second power-play unit, it figures he won’t be out much longer.

As for Dubois, who was injured after taking a puck to the head in Friday’s regular season finale against Toronto, he only returned to the ice for the first time during morning skate Wednesday. When he wasn’t out for practice Sunday through Tuesday, all signs pointed to him sitting out Game 1.

Maurice cleared up his suggestion following Friday’s game that Dubois, as well as Paul Stastny, who also didn’t finish the game, would be ready for the start of playoffs.

“That was kind of my feel after, where we thought they’d be the next day,” Maurice said. “And he wasn’t as good the next day as I hoped he would be.”

Dubois and Ehlers will continue to be evaluated and are considered game-time decisions for Game 2 Friday in Edmonton.

Sight for sore eyes: With the Montreal Canadiens planning to allow 2,500 fans in Bell Centre by May 29, and a number of U.S.-based teams already starting to fill their arenas, Blake Wheeler was asked about watching raucous playoff crowds compared to what will be empty stands for the Jets and Oilers series.

“Watching Florida and Carolina gives me envy and hope,” Wheeler said. “I mean, especially at this time of the year, to see people back in the buildings down there is a sight for sore eyes.”

While Quebec has seen their COVID-19 numbers shrink, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario continue to enforce tough restrictions owing to the coronavirus.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton