Jets ready for an Oil change

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This article was published 03/12/2014 (4054 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Reduced to its basic elements, the most direct and reliable route to the NHL playoffs every season is a simple formula of winning all the games you’re expected to win against lesser opponents — and then a few more.

And the good news for fans of the Winnipeg Jets — who have yet to master that formula in their three-plus seasons back in the NHL — is the local squad has been very good and very consistent this season in banking two points any time they face the league’s cellar dwellers.

The Jets have played the Carolina Hurricanes twice already this season — and they’ve beaten them twice. Ottawa Senators? Check. Buffalo Sabres? Check. Columbus Blue Jackets? Check. Colorado Avalanche? Check. Arizona Coyotes? Check.

Indeed, with the exception of a shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils in October — which Winnipeg avenged with a win over the Devils in November — the Jets have won every single game they have played this season against a team that was, as of Tuesday, below .500.

That’s a remarkably consistent run of hockey in a league where the prevailing wisdom is that any team on any given night is capable of beating another, regardless of their respective rankings in the league standings.

And it bodes well for the Jets heading into tonight when they will face at the MTS Centre an Edmonton Oilers squad that at this point quite literally has nothing left to lose, if only because losing is about all the Oilers have been doing lately.

The Oilers lost their 10th game in a row Monday night in a 5-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes and are now within four games of equalling the longest winless streak in franchise history. Things have been bad for this once high-flying Edmonton franchise for quite a few years now, but if the Oilers’ current swan dive isn’t rock bottom, they can certainly see it from where they are presently.

All of which makes Edmonton one of two things tonight — a hapless opponent or a very dangerous opponent. The Jets, to a man, believe it’s the latter.

“(The Oilers) are very dangerous,” said Jets defenceman Mark Stuart. “They’re obviously not happy with the way things are going and they’re going to do whatever it takes to turn it around. Any team in that position is very dangerous…

“I don’t know if you can be expected to win any games in this league. Every game is hard.”

Jets head coach Paul Maurice says the Oilers’ swoon isn’t all it might appear to be on the surface, noting some of the most recent Edmonton losses have come against Western Conference high fliers such as St. Louis and Nashville.

“St. Louis and Nashville are as good a pair of teams as there are in the Western Conference. Those are tight and hard-fought games and they are played very quickly,” said Maurice. “It’s a danger to look at the final score.”

Jets centre Bryan Little said his club has been very good this season at not looking past any opponents, but also not worrying a whole lot about them either. “It’s kind of been our game plan all year to not get too caught up in who we’re playing or what the other team has going on at the time,” said Little.

“We come into the games worrying about how we’re going to come out and how we’re going to play. And so I think we’re approaching (the Oilers) the same way.”

Maurice said he’s less concerned about his team looking past the struggling Oilers than he is about what effect a four-day break between games might have on his team, which last played Friday in an overtime loss to the Bruins in Boston.

“I think it’s easier to stay in a rhythm when you’re playing every second night,” said Maurice. “Even if you’re fatigued, your muscle memory is the hard grind. When you come off it and try to get some rest for your team, sometimes you worry about remembering that muscle memory and how hard it is to battle every night on every shift.

“So my concern going into this game would be the same if it was Edmonton or St. Louis or Anaheim. There’s enough skill on every team in the NHL that if you’re not ready to play, they’re going to beat you.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek