‘Too slow:’ Jets head coach bemoans team’s power play

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This article was published 28/10/2017 (2876 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

COLUMBUS — The Winnipeg Jets went to overtime twice and held their opponents to a pair of regulation goals in two games against elite Eastern Conference teams this week. That was the good.

The flipside was less encouraging.

Winnipeg scored only twice in two games, lost both in extra time and went a combined Oh-for-8 on the power play.

An offence that averaged 3.14 goals in its opening seven games had suddenly gone dry — albeit against the powerhouse Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets in back-to-back games on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Winnipeg’s power play was cringe-worthy.

“It was too slow,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said after a 2-1 OT loss to the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. “They were real aggressive with it and they didn’t come off the puck. We kept trying to settle it out and slow it down but there was no slowing that down.

“The two or three times that we got to the right pace of speed, we got a shot or at least a look or an opportunity to shoot the puck. It was just a speed issue.”

The rigours of back-to-back games appeared to take effect in the last 40 minutes Friday. Winnipeg had a 24-16 lead in shot attempts through one period but the hosts held a 40-20 edge the rest of the way.

“We had lots of offence (Thursday) night,” said Maurice. “The finish… We’ve got guys who can finish and were in positions last night to finish.(Friday) was going to be a grinding road game on a back-to-back and I’m not worried about that.”

Veteran blue-liner Tyler Myers gave the Jackets plenty of credit.

“They’re hard on it,” said Myers, who played 3:58 on Winnipeg’s penalty-killing unit Friday (the Jets killed off all eight opposition power plays in Pittsburgh and Columbus). “It seemed like anytime we got the puck they were right on us. It was tough to make a play. That’s where our PP has to dig deep and outwork the other team’s PK.

“I thought our PK was really good tonight. When our PP has some trouble, you have to balance it out with a good PK. That’s exactly how we want to kill.”

Life doesn’t get any easier for Winnipeg.

The Jets have a return engagement with the Penguins tonight, but they have reason to be encouraged with their progress. After opening the regular season with two ugly losses in which they were outscored 13-5, they are now 4-3-2 and appear to be trending upwards.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions are a formidable test. The Pens are off to a 7-3-1 start but have has been outscored 41-34 thanks to blowout losses to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks.

The Jets won’t be fooled.

“It’s such a fine line,” Myers said. “They have a very good team, a lot of power up front and a really good power play. It’s focusing on what we have to do. Playing our game, playing the way we know we have to, to be successful, and that’s playing a simple game and making those plays that we can make at the right time.”

BY THE NUMBERS: Steve Mason had an important bounce-back game against the Blue Jackets Friday after going 0-3-0 with a .846 save percentage and a 5.96 goals-against average to start the regular season. He now has a .872 save percentage and 4.84 goals-against average.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14