Jets head into bye week needing rest, resuscitation

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This article was published 15/01/2018 (2799 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE question had merit early last week after the Winnipeg Jets soared past the Buffalo Sabres to earn their third straight victory and 13 of 14 points in seven contests since Dec. 27.

Would the approaching bye week be more of a hindrance than a help to the surging Central Division team?

Since then, however, back-to-back defeats to divisional opponents have dissolved the need to even ask.

The Jets are hurting physically — not unlike a lot of teams just past the midway point of a gruelling NHL campaign. A pair of top-three centres, Mark Scheifele and Adam Lowry, are on the injured-reserve list, while wingers Brandon Tanev and Shawn Matthias are banged up and back-up goalie Steve Mason returned to Winnipeg Saturday after a second day feeling unwell.

There’s the mental strain of maintaining an elevated performance level, an issue the Jets haven’t been challenged with since the franchise left Atlanta and headed north in 2011. At no time have the Jets been flying this high in either the division, Western Conference or league standings this far into a season, with perennial playoff teams like the Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues closing in fast.

Finally, the play of head coach Paul Maurice’s squad dipped on the three-game road trip, starting late in the game in Buffalo when defensive lapses led to a sudden but, ultimately, innocuous push by the Sabres. Winnipeg held on for a 7-4 triumph.

Looking dishevelled in their own end and handling the puck like a grenade in the first period, Winnipeg actually righted itself and played well in chunks Friday in Chicago but botched a number of quality scoring chances and had to swallow a 2-1 defeat to the slick-skating Blackhawks.

Twenty-four hours later, the Jets’ engine barely fired on takeoff, as the high-energy Minnesota Wild stormed out to a 2-0 lead and cruised to a 4-1 triumph, leaving Winnipeg winless in their final two before the break.

The Jets are 26-13-7, good for 59 points and top spot in the division — but the grip will loosen this week as both Nashville and St. Louis get back to business following identical bye weeks. The second-place Predators (25-11-6, 56 points) have four games in hand.

Still, the five-day respite, courtesy of the league, comes at just the right time, Maurice said following the loss at Xcel Energy Center.

“We’ve got some key pieces in terms of our structure and how we run our bench that we’ve missed,” he said, referring to the injured personnel. “We’ve actually done a great job of kind of surviving and getting wins without them. Hopefully, we’ll get a bunch of those guys back.”

The club resumes skating Friday and battles the Flames in Calgary on Saturday afternoon before returning home to face the Vancouver Canucks Sunday evening.

Winnipeg has played 26 games on the road (10-10-6) and just 20 at Bell MTS Centre but has been dynamite on home ice (16-3-1). Upon its return this weekend, the squad will play three of four on the road prior the NHL All-Star Weekend, Jan. 27-28, followed by a crazy stretch of 10 games at their downtown rink.

But the comforts of home only go so far.

“Our challenge and adversity is still ahead of us,” said Maurice. “The positive for our team is that we’ll have 29 road games done by the all-star break. That’s a big number, I’m not sure anybody else is going to have that. But then the games are going to change. They’re going to get more and more like (Friday’s) game (in Chicago), grinders right through. They’ll be tight games, teams now fighting it out… it will be a challenge for everybody.”

This time last season the Jets were 20-22-4 — also-rans after just 46 games. But circumstances have changed dramatically over the course of a year for Winnipeg.

Indeed, the pressure will intensify over the last three months of the regular season but that’s the position the Jets management, coaches and players pushed to get to, following consecutive years on the outside of the playoffs looking in.

Defenceman Josh Morrissey, enjoying a rock-solid sophomore season playing alongside Jacob Trouba, said the Jets need the rest but should be able to flick the switch as soon as they reunite Friday.

“Things are going well, for the most part we’ve played good hockey and we’re feeling good about ourselves,” the 22-year-old from Calgary said late last week. “Coming off the break, we have to get back into that mindset right away. For us, being NHL players, you use that time to do what you need to do to feel good again. But at the same time, you come come back ready to go.”

The Jets still possess one of the league’s most lethal power plays (25.4 per cent efficiency), second only to the Pittsburgh Penguins (27 per cent). On home ice, Winnipeg leads the field, scoring on 32.9 per cent of their man-advantage opportunities.

Meanwhile, its penalty killers are in the middle of the pack (15th), thwarting 81.4 per cent of opponents’ power-play chances.

Individually, captain Blake Wheeler, selected to participate in the all-star game, was tied for third in the NHL points race (53) as of Sunday and third in assists (39). Patrik Laine has 20 goals, good for 10th in the league, while Nikolaj Ehlers is just one tally behind.

Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (23-6-6) dropped two straight on the road, the only time this season he’s lost back-to-back games in regulation time this season. He’s still third in the NHL in victories, but lately his goals-against average (2.40) and save percentage (.922) have suffered slightly.

The third-year netminder is also heading to Tampa Bay for the all-star weekend.

 

 

Mason still off

With the Jets off this week, it’s doubtful the club will release any information on the health and well-being of goalie Steve Mason, who returned to Winnipeg on Saturday for medical follow-up after continuing to feel unwell on the road.

In St. Paul, Minn., the veteran goalie was replaced on the bench by AHL call-up Michael Hutchinson for the second straight night, while Connor Hellebuyck started against the Chicago Blackhawks and the Wild.

Mason, who earned a victory Tuesday in Buffalo, took a shot high during Friday’s morning skate at United Center and later told the club he wasn’t feeling well. Jets coach Paul Maurice said after the skate he wasn’t sure if that had anything to do with the netminder’s condition.

Mason missed seven games earlier this season with a suspected concussion after taking a shot to the mask in San Jose on Nov. 25.

 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell