Bogo off to promising start at plus-three

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This article was published 11/10/2014 (4346 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — With a lot of eyes fixed on Zach Bogosian’s newest attempt to take his career to a better level, the 24-year-old defenceman launched the season with a positive step.

In a 6-2 victory over the Coyotes in Glendale, Ariz., Bogosian recorded two assists, was plus-three and was on top of his game most of the way

“I thought we came out of the gates hot,” Bogosian said after Friday’s practice. “You find that in the first game, that everyone’s excited to get going. We moved our feet, we had some bounces go our way and we ran with it.

“It was a fun game to be a part of.”

There was clearly an edge to his game. And that of a few others, he pointed out.

“I guess that’s a little bit of summer built up in you, you’re excited to get things going,” Bogosian said. “In order to be an effective team, we have to be aggressive and be physical. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go out there and fight, it’s just going out there and not backing down.

“Wheels (Blake Wheeler scuffled with Arizona captain Shane Doan) doesn’t do it a lot, but just showing up to the dance is all that matters. You see that and guys notice that on the bench and in the locker-room. We need more of that around here.”

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The Jets did many things they wanted on Thursday night, which isn’t always as easy as you’d think in an NHL game.

“I think the pre-season taught us quite a bit,” said one of the stars of the 6-2 in Arizona, right-winger Blake Wheeler, who had three points. “We didn’t really have our team on the ice for stretches, but I think what happened was we kind of learned by trial and error.

“The pre-season was good for us this year because it kind of forced us to simplify things, top to bottom. We went into (Game 1) with the mentality that we’re not looking for back-door tap-ins. That’s going to come. But we’re looking to get pucks to the net, get guys to the net and get some tips and some screens and some rebound goals. The back-door stuff comes after that. It’s a learning curve for sure, but I think that (exhibition) game for us at home against Calgary, a light went on for us a little. We went, ‘OK, this is a little bit easier for us if we simplify things. The puck just goes in the net more if you don’t overthink it too much. It sounds easy, but it can be difficult to understand.”

— — —

In his first NHL game, left-winger Adam Lowry played 12 minutes and 11 seconds and registered one shot on goal.

“Good. I thought the things we were hoping to have happen, he can do, just in terms of position. He’s big and strong,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said about the 21-year-old NHL rookie.

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“But you can’t explain to a guy how fast this game gets between exhibition and the regular season and he’s going to get another test tomorrow night, because this game is actually going to get faster on him.

“Some things, like how much time he had with the puck in our zone when he was making a play. You knew he was doing the right thing and he was going in the right direction with it and then it got closed off on him a couple of times. Those are things they learn that you can’t explain. Because exhibition hockey is nowhere near as fast as the regular season.”