Home is where the hard is

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This article was published 15/10/2014 (4324 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It will be full, as always. And it will be loud, as always.

When the curtain is raised Friday at the MTS Centre on the home portion of the Winnipeg Jets’ 2014-15 schedule, the backdrop will be essentially the same as it was on Day 1 of the franchise’s rebirth — loyal fans rocking the girders of the National Hockey’s League’s smallest building from the opening notes of O Canada to the final horn.

But what the Jets desperately need to change to become a real part of the playoff discussion next April is transform the rink in downtown Winnipeg into a nasty stop on the league’s itinerary.

It’s been anything but over the last three years.

The proof? Since 2011-12 the Jets have finished with just the 15th-, 21st- and 23rd-best home records.

“It’s a chance for us to establish ourselves at home this year,” said centre Bryan Little when asked about expectations for the five-game homestand on the horizon. “I think we need to get to that feeling we had in the first season where it was tough to come into our rink and play against us. That’s been kinda missing last year, that toughness to come into the MTS Centre and be a tough group to play against. We want to establish that early, that it’s going to be hard night when you come to Winnipeg.

“A lot of guys that came here didn’t know what to expect when we first moved here. Everyone says the honeymoon phase is over and all that stuff… I don’t know if we got used to (playing at home) or complacent with it. We’ve got some fresh faces in the room and I think everyone is looking to having a good start at home.”

The Jets were just 18-17-6 at the MTS Centre last season and eight teams in the NHL had 10 home losses or less — including Central Division rivals Chicago, St. Louis and Minnesota.

Two main factors to consider when examining the Jets’ issues at home:

1. LOOSEY-GOOSEY IN THE DEFENSIVE ZONE

Strange, but true: the Jets surrendered 123 goals at home last season, 26th in the NHL. But their 108 goals against on the road was sixth best in the NHL. In fact, it could be said some of the most sound defensive efforts the Jets served up a year ago occurred in enemy territory. That’s without last change, remember, but with perhaps a greater attention to detail and a commitment to sticking to the defensive game plan.

2. HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE MEETS MAN ADVANTAGE

The Jets were 23-13-5 at home in 2011-12 and, not coincidentally, had the second-best home power play that season at 22 per cent; Nashville was first at 22.9 per cent. Since then the Jets have ranked 26th and 19th at home with the man advantage.

A power play doesn’t have to be a difference maker every night, but it can be a real buzz kill — in 23 of 41 home games last season ago the Jets did not score a power-play goal. That included going 0-for-10 in the final four home games and 2-for-26 in the final eight games at the MTS Centre.

How do the Jets reverse this trend? It can take years of winning to establish a barn as a tough place to visit. But the most effective way to change, short-term, is to dictate the pace of the game — a message Paul Maurice has been preaching since he first stepped behind the bench last January.

“That first year up here… I remember we (when Maurice was the head coach at Carolina) were like a lot of teams — being in the East they’d sent you out midwest somewhere and then back-to-back you into Winnipeg (FYI: the Jets were 9-2-1 at home when the visiting team had played the night before). You’d get here at three or four in the morning and be down three goals before the national anthem was over. It’s a great building. So, yeah, you’ve got to take advantage of that.

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“… There is that energy in the building. You want to make sure you give this building a reason to get up and get going. Well, they’ll start going, we know that. So we’ve got to keep them out of their seats.”

The Jets saw a lot of that on the weekend in California where they were down 2-0 after the first period of losses to both the Sharks and Kings. Early momentum can be a beast to turn when it’s working against a club.

“We want to do what San Jose and L.A. did to us: Come out flying in front of our fans, get them on their feet, get them excited,” said winger Blake Wheeler. “That plays to our advantage. Whenever we get our crowd into it we seem to feed off it and it makes it a tough atmosphere for teams coming in.

“We need to be better at home. We know that. We take care of business at home and keep our head above water on the road, that’s the recipe for success in this league. You look at the top teams, it’s tough to win on the road, so you’ve got to be good at home.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait