Flying high against the odds

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/12/2014 (3937 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Given their injuries and their previous struggles to score goals, it’s almost inconceivable that this is the time of the season the Winnipeg Jets would run off a string of results.

But with Friday’s 2-1 home-ice win over the Boston Bruins, the Jets certainly weren’t disabled by having their top four defencemen on the injured list.

The team is now 7-1-3 in its last 11 starts and up to 40 points in the Western Conference standings, good enough to occupy one of the eight playoff spots heading into tonight’s game at the MTS Centre against the Philadelphia Flyers.

“It’s high right now,” winger Mathieu Perreault said Saturday about confidence. “We’re feeling good about ourselves. I think it starts with Paul Maurice. He just makes everybody feel good.

“Everybody knows we have injuries, but he makes us believe that we can beat anybody. The way we’re playing our system, we’re doing it to a T. Everybody knows what to do. We focus on communication and we’re talking on the ice and letting each other know what’s going on. That makes a big difference. I think right now the lines the way they’re set up, they’re clicking together and (Evander) Kane with (Adam) Lowry and (Matt) Halischuk, they had a great game Friday, probably our best line, forechecking and all.

“It seems like every night there’s a line stepping up doing a good job. That’s what’s making our team good.”

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Perreault was credited with Friday’s winner, as Dustin Byfuglien’s point shot deflected off his body near the end of the second period.

His conversion to the left wing has him in a happy place right now, flanking centre Mark Scheifele and right-winger Michael Frolik.

“I like playing the wing with Scheifs and Fro, they’re great players,” he said. “I love that position. Right now it’s working for us and I feel comfortable there. We talk a lot on the ice and we let each other know what’s going on, where to go and what to do.”

Jets coach Paul Maurice said the move from centre to the wing was a catalyst for Perreault.

“Think about how he comes in,” Maurice said. “He comes into a team that’s really trying to learn how to play well defensively. We put an awful lot of pressure on the centre-ice man and he wants to come in and be part of that team and do a good job.

“And he was doing a fine job but he didn’t want to make a mistake. And part of it when you handle the puck the way Mathieu does, and you handle it as much, you’re going to make mistakes.

“So we were fine with his play. We moved him to the wing and he relaxed a little bit and… there’s more freedom for our wingers to do things in the offensive zone. He’s also had a couple of months with what we’re trying to do defensively, so he’s more comfortable with that.”

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The Jets had some sense of relief Saturday when Dustin Byfuglien was able to practise.

Byfuglien took a high stick “to the chops,” on Friday night, Maurice said, leaving him unable to play the final two-plus minutes in the game. He ended up skating 27 minutes, 4 seconds.

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Friday’s ice-time chart also showed Grant Clitsome playing a season-high 24:23 with newcomer Jay Harrison as his new partner.

Clitsome’s previous high this season was 18:59. Last season, before he injured his back, he played numerous games at more than 24 minutes in October and November, as high as 27:09.

“I slept really good last night,” Clitsome said after Saturday’s practice. “It’s always a lot more fun when you’re getting the opportunity.”

He’s giving thumbs-up to the new pairing after one night.

“We were talking a lot,” Clitsome said. “That makes things a little easier.

“We talked about it today. We felt pretty comfortable playing with each other. I thought we were reading off each other pretty well in situations where he would pinch in and I’d be back and vice versa. Again, he’s a big talker on the ice, which makes things a lot easier.

“He’s obviously got a lot of experience in the league. That makes things easier for him, knowing how to handle situations. I thought it went pretty well.”

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Harrison, airlifted into Winnipeg on Friday less than a week before Christmas, will be able to spend the upcoming holiday break with his family in the Raleigh, N.C. area.

After Tuesday’s game in Chicago, Harrison will fly directly back to spend time with his family, wife Jodean and daughters, Presley, 6, Willa, 4, Stevie, 2 and Gemma, 1, then rejoin the Jets in St. Paul, Minn., for the game on Dec. 27.

Harrison said plans are already in the works to have his family move to Winnipeg in the coming weeks.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca