Jets not making excuses

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This article was published 07/01/2015 (3920 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than lamenting the last-minute sequence that cost them Monday’s game against the San Jose Sharks or shifting blame to referees or leaning on their lengthy injury list, the Winnipeg Jets took ownership of the 3-2 setback to the Sharks and vowed to be better in the days ahead.

Jets coach Paul Maurice, in particular, said while the team’s issues may be many, Monday’s outing was simply not up to the standards his team has set for itself.

“The things we didn’t like about the game are the things we hold dear to us,” Maurice said after the loss dropped the Jets to 20-13-7 following a 1-3 homestand. “You’ll see some parts of games that don’t look great. That’s what happens when five guys are down. So we have things that are important to us on a really consistent basis this year and it wasn’t quite there for the first 30 (minutes).”

The result thickened the logjam in the mid-range of the Western Conference standings as the Jets stayed at 47 points and still on the right side of the playoff line for another day.

“I think the third period was pretty much better but the first half of the game was kind of casual,” Jets right-winger Michael Frolik said after Tuesday’s practice at the MTS Centre. “We didn’t drive the net very hard and we had a few turnovers. We usually don’t do those things.

“We get on the forecheck and put the puck deep and get after it. It wasn’t there last night. But that’s going to happen. It’s a long season. You just learn from it, put it behind you and now we go on the road to try to do it better.”

The Jets did push the Sharks in many ways on Monday but saying just that isn’t good enough for this team, defenceman Jay Harrison said Tuesday.

“We played a game last night that we fought hard to stay in but by no means were we at our best,” Harrison said. “So even to be in the position we were in, we felt like we gave more than we had to. It wasn’t characteristic, that one wasn’t characteristic of us and over the course of the eight-month schedule, there are going to be nights like that.

“It speaks to our identity how we respond and that’s the emphasis going forward. We looked at the clips and realized the parts of the game that weren’t our hockey club, weren’t our strengths. We didn’t play to those strengths.”

Harrison said the Jets will not stew about the result but rather find a way to make it help them in the future.

“That’s a missed opportunity that is gone,” he said.

“It’s forward now; we move forward. We’ll correct and re-emphasize our focus. It’s a short-term memory kind of game and you can’t let the good or the bad hang around for too long.

“They really aren’t the indicator for the future. That’s all about the effort you bring, night in and night out.

“Monday there were definitely teaching points. That wasn’t our start. We turned the puck over a little bit more than we’re used to. With that we came off our game a little and it took away from our team speed and that doesn’t allow us to use the body on the forecheck as much and we spent more time in our zone, which puts more heat on our goalie and you see that in the shots. It’s kind of a domino effect the way that works.”

That the Jets now have some experience and confidence in their style of game should help them, centre Mark Scheifele said.

“We know we didn’t play our best last night we but were in it,” he said. “We’ve moved past it. We’re on to the next one. We’re ready for (Arizona). We’ll be ready when we get there.”

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Frolik said the team already has the fix in the planning stage as it gets ready to begin a nasty two weeks. It starts Thursday in Glendale, Ariz., against the Coyotes, Game 1 of seven in 11 days, each game preceded by travel. That will include the two home games against Florida (Jan. 13) and Arizona (Jan. 18).

“Monday was frustrating, yeah,” Frolik said. “I think those kind of things, you’ve got to try to reset, forget about it. Don’t think too much about it.

“Today we had a little meeting about what we did wrong and that we’re going to learn from it. We had a couple of turnovers in the neutral zone and at the blue-line and that’s not our game.

“We need to get better on that, move our legs a little more and make sure we are back on our game, something we’ve been solid on all year.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca