Bowness doing his best to motivate Jets in stretch run ‘I’ve gotta get more out of them,’ says veteran coach
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What Rick Bowness said — and how he said it — might have painted the most alarming picture to date about where things stand with his core group of veterans.
The Winnipeg Jets head coach spoke after Wednesday’s practice about the commitment he’s seen during the club’s ugly slide.
“I’ve gotta get more out of them. Put it that way,” Bowness began.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Jets head coach Rick Bowness says the Jets’ lacklustre play is being addressed and now it is up to the players to respond.
Winnipeg earned a lacklustre 2-1 victory over the visiting Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night, the squad’s 40th triumph of the 2022-23 NHL season, but a long way from being its most convincing.
The Jets jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Nikolaj Ehlers and Adam Lowry in the opening period but were outshot 18-3 in the second and didn’t have a shot on goal for the final 16 minutes, 14 seconds of the frame.
Winnipeg’s resident big guns, Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, were quiet once again. The veteran centre leads the team with 38 tallies but hasn’t scored in six games, while Connor has an 11-game drought going. Pierre-Luc Dubois has been blanked in seven consecutive outings, while Blake Wheeler is goalless in 18 games.
Sometimes, puck luck just isn’t on a player’s side. That’s not entirely the case with this veteran group.
Oddly, Bowness spoke about the need for him to stay on top of Winnipeg’s core group of players to ensure they are staying motivated during these tough times. That’s an interesting phenomenon for a team in the thick of a hotly contested playoff race.
“That’s what we’re dealing with. That’s part of our job, to stay on top of them and to keep pushing them and don’t let them get into a comfort zone and don’t let them back off.”–Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness
“Yup,” Bowness said, with a telling grin. “That’s what we’re doing.”
At one point, the veteran bench boss asked a reporter, “Who motives you when you wake up in the morning?”
The response from the participant in press row? “Myself.”
To which Bowness replied, “There you go.”
“That’s what we’re dealing with. That’s part of our job, to stay on top of them and to keep pushing them and don’t let them get into a comfort zone and don’t let them back off,” Bowness said. “Sometimes, you’re doing that and you’re not even aware you’re doing it. So, it has to be shown, has to be talked to, has to be addressed. So, we’ll keep pushing, and then the rest is on them, yes.”
“If we were allowing this and not addressing that they can do more, that’s one thing. But we are addressing it, and now that next step, that has to come from them.
The Jets (40-29-3) have struggled to bulge the twine during an 8-10-2 stretch that dates back to the All-Star break, netting more than three goals just five times during that span.
FRED GREENSLADE / CANADIAN PRESS files
Winnipeg Jets Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele are both mired in a scoring drought.
Meanwhile, an inept power play has failed to convert on 18 straight opportunities, including an 0-for-6 night against the Coyotes.
The Jets have made their way south for a three-game California swing that begins Thursday against the Anaheim Ducks (23-38-19). It’s a 9 p.m. puck drop. They also face the Los Angeles Kings (41-20-10), currently battling for the Pacific Division title, and the San Jose Sharks (19-37-15) before returning home for a five-game homestand.
Winnipeg owns the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference playoff race, and holds a four-point lead on the Calgary Flames and a five-point advantage over Nashville. The Predators have three games in hand.
Tuesday’s performance featured a solid opening 20-minutes, a disappearing act in the middle frame and a relatively sound, shutdown third period.
Bowness said that inconsistency won’t cut it down the stretch.
“The most important thing is to get (into the playoffs). And just as important is playing the right way at the right time. (Tuesday) night is a perfect example. We had two great periods and a bad period. We’ve been in the game, but you gotta be honest about how you played it. We’re not going to walk away and say, ‘2-1, that’s great.’ That’s not what we’re doing,” he said.
“Yeah, we won the game, we needed to win, we got it — that’s the best news. But you have to play a lot better for 60 minutes than we did…”
jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @jfreysam
Joshua Frey-Sam
Reporter
Joshua Frey-Sam happily welcomes a spirited sports debate any day of the week.
