Fourth-line power play says it all

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This article was published 08/11/2015 (3617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Paul Maurice sent a bit of a message to his team as he ushered his fourth line onto the ice late in a 3-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

It was their turn for a crack at a power-play opportunity.

The message? The Winnipeg Jets head coach had seen enough.

The Jets were 0-for-5 with the man advantage Saturday night. Their previous four attempts — manned by their top power-play personnel — resulted in just six shots on Flyers netminder Michal Neuvirth. Nothing looked remotely akin to a scoring chance as Neuvirth posted his third shutout of the season.

Conversely, the Flyers’ power play, which hadn’t scored in 16 previous attempts over a seven-game span, sprung to life.

Brayden Schenn, whose goal proved to be the gamer winner, came while Alexander Burmistrov was sitting for a first-period tripping call. Wayne Simmonds’ tally in the third period registered with Toby Enstrom detained for interference.

Perhaps it was just one of those nights.

“They were able to take advantage of our lack of discipline,” Drew Stafford said. “Say what you want about the types of calls… the bottom line is that we have to kill off those penalties. I think discipline got us.”

Maurice categorized most of the penalties against the Jets as the “jaywalking” variety. He said discipline wasn’t the issue for his team in the loss.

But the numbers suggest a slightly different story — the Jets are the most undisciplined team in the league.

In fact, they’ve been short-handed 57 times in 15 games to start the season, one more than the Los Angeles Kings.

Their saving grace? An effective penalty-kill unit that entered the night ranked ninth in the league at 84.6 per cent.

Ultimately, the Jets were left to bemoan missed chances and rue the ones they let the Flyers take advantage of.

“We had our chances on the PP that we didn’t capitalize on either,” Stafford said. “I think it’s just a matter of being a little more crisp (with our) execution. I could rattle off all the clichés… it’s pretty much standard. We just weren’t good enough.”

‘They were able to take advantage of our lack of discipline’

— Drew Stafford

That sense of frustration was palpable.

Asked what in particular was disheartening about losing to a team winless in its last six, Blake Wheeler was candid.

“The losing part is the most frustratsing part,” he said.

For Maurice, like Stafford before him, he was left wanting for more.

“We couldn’t get it clear for the life of us if we needed it,” Maurice said.

“Our penalty kill couldn’t hold them and our power play couldn’t score. There wasn’t a whole lot to be had for either team. It wasn’t good enough.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca