Jets snuffed in New Jersey

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This article was published 31/10/2014 (3991 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEWARK, N.J. — There was the Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Blob and Swamp Thing. Yes, Hollywood has served up all kinds of beasts who emerge from the bog to frighten the citizens and wreak all kinds of damage.

Thursday night in the swamps of New Jersey another beast did its thing, laying low against the Winnipeg Jets for 57 minutes before awakening, tying the game then securing the second point in a 2-1 shootout win for the Devils.

 

You want gruesome?

Consider: The Devils had been an NHL record 0-for-18 in the shootout before Thursday’s dramatic finish.

You want gory?

The last Devils win in a shootout came March 10, 2013… against the Jets.

And you want horrific?

The Jets were credited with 25 shots, but consistently blew glorious chance after glorious chance with one too many passes or cute dekes that never saw pucks get to Devils netminder Cory Schneider.

“The thing you dislike the most from the game is the number of times that we took a puck that we had worked so hard to get that shot, and then moved it to a place that was a lower percentage and never got the puck to the net,” said Jets coach Paul Maurice.

“We passed up on some really prime places to shoot the puck and didn’t get it to the net. They had some chances. We did, too. It was kind of a sticky game. Very little flow to it, very little transition… it’s good for the road team, but it’s also the way New Jersey plays. I thought when we had it 1-0 we had two or three chances to make that 2-0. We needed to do that tonight.

“I don’t have an answer for this one tonight,” added Maurice. “I didn’t see this one coming, because we’ve been putting the puck at the net. We were in the Top 10 in terms of shots on goal. We shoot a lot of pucks.

“We’ll certainly talk about it. I think you’ll see us put a lot of pucks to the net in the next game.”

 

A POINT LOST

THE Jets had played a solid road game into the third period — essentially out-Deviling the Devils with a smart defensive effort — before fading. And it cost them as veteran Michael Ryder pounced on a turnover in the Jets zone, walked around Mark Stuart and beat Ondrej Pavelec for the equalizer with 3:27 left.

The Jets outshot the Devils 3-1 in OT, but then whiffed in the shootout as Blake Wheeler, Andrew Ladd and Bryan Little were all stopped by Schneider while Jacob Josefson scored for the Devils.

And — POOF! — just like that a late 1-0 lead became a 2-1 shootout loss, dropping the Jets to 4-5-1.

“We were working hard in both ends of the ice,” said Wheeler, who scored the Jets’ lone goal. “Our back pressure was great, they didn’t really have a whole lot all night and we were forcing them to come through a lot of guys.

“That’s what happens. We created some good opportunities for us at the other end of the ice, but you’ve just got to bear down and get that next one and put them away.”

 

TWO COME BACK

THE Jets welcomed back Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian and the impact of their return was immediate. Kane, working with Wheeler and Mark Scheifele, played 17:07 and finished with three shots. Bogosian, teamed with Toby Enstrom, picked up an assist and saw 23:09 of ice time.

But aside from Wheeler’s goal — which came on a delayed penalty and featured a nifty set-up pass from Enstrom — the Jets’ top line couldn’t finish. The trio created chances, but Scheifele hit a post and they were as guilty as the rest of the team for not blasting shots at Schneider.

“It was awesome,” said Wheeler of being reunited with Kane and Scheifele. “You almost have to laugh… I don’t have a great answer for the lack of results, but I was really happy with the way we played.”

 

HALLOWEEN, THEN RANGERS

THE Jets have picked up three of four points to start this four-game road trip and have a day off in Manhattan today before meeting the New York Rangers Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

Maurice & Co., meanwhile, likely spent the rest of Thursday night mad enough to spit rust.

“You’re going to chew on this for the rest of the night and then you’re going to move on,” said Maurice. “We played hard, we made some mistakes, but we played a pretty solid road game.”

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

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