Streaking Jets wary of Penguins’ potent power play

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This article was published 06/11/2014 (3981 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ONE of Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice’s favourite talking points is about how his team handles adversity.

Early on, when the Jets struggled to a 1-4 start, it was about too many slumping shoulders and grim looks when something bad happened.

Now, on their 5-0-1 run in the last six games — giving up just six goals in the process — it’s about carrying on with confidence, unfazed by any bad happening.

For Game 14 of the season, a whole lot of adversity just rolled into town.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are winners of their last five and have scored 23 goals in doing it, making good teams like Los Angeles and Minnesota look very average.

How will the Jets fare with this test?

“They’re good players,” defenceman Jacob Trouba said Wednesday.

“If you give them time and space, they’ll make good plays. You’re not going to take them out of the game because they’re that good… but you’ve got to limit them as much as you can.”

Centre Bryan Little sounded almost a little defiant about a rather big test tonight at the MTS Centre (7 p.m., TSN3, TSN 1290).

“Right now, we’re not changing anything,” Little said. “We’re going to come in with the same mindset, the same game plan and we’ve been beating good teams lately. We’re not going to change anything or how we play.”

The Penguins were riding high as of Tuesday’s action, leading the NHL’s Eastern Conference with an 8-2-1 mark.

Their power play has been a major contributor to their winning ways. As of Wednesday, 11 teams were running power plays at better than 20 per cent, but the Pens were making the other 10 look ordinary, since theirs was at 41.3 per cent.

The Pens have potted 19 goals in 46 man-advantage opportunities.

Maurice, after giving most of his squad the day off the ice, tried to inject a little humour in just how good that is.

“What are they, 42 per cent on their power play on the road?” he grinned. “So you’re wondering, should you just fire it in your own net and save the two minutes and use the two minutes to get it back?”

The serious part of how he views tonight’s game went like this:

“So the two elite players (league-leading scorer Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin) are extremely elite and then they’ve got a lot of really good players around them. It’s more than just a two-man show here.

Penalty kill

“Our penalty kill is good and it’s going to have to be nearly perfect. And that may not be enough. Better yet, you have to stay out of the box on this team. Most importantly, stick discipline. You can be physical but you can’t have your stick caught up in guys’ feet. You can’t be out of position and then be hooking from behind against a team like that.

“It’s always all the same game. It’s the frequency and intensity. When you’re turning the puck over against this team, you’re going to have a far bigger price to pay than you would against a low-scoring team. The things you have to do, and we talk about them every game, you just can’t do those things. You do it once, you’re lucky to get away with it. You do it twice, you’ll be pulling it out of your net.”

Jets right-winger Blake Wheeler, who scored his fifth of the season Tuesday night into the empty net to secure the 3-1 win over the Nashville Predators, said his team is well-aware of the Penguins’ power but the focus is on themselves.

“We believe what we do is going to work against anyone,” Wheeler said. “Regardless of how the game goes (tonight), it’s not going to deter us from what we believe gives us success.

“I think we’re starting to realize what we are as a team, and what we’re not as a team. If we’re going to try to match these guys (tonight) chance for chance, we’re not going to have a very fun night.

“We’re just going to stick with what we do, be patient and try to make it as boring as possible.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca