RALEIGH – The National Hockey League is a results-based business and the Winnipeg Jets are well aware of that. However, the process is what means most to them during a tough stretch of three straight losses.
The next opportunity to snap that skid comes against the very team that started it – the Carolina Hurricanes (14-7-2).
Yes, just one week ago the Jets (12-10-0) had won three of their last four games but fell 4-3 to the Hurricanes despite out-chancing the Hurricanes 9-1 at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick’s high-danger metrics.
In fact, Winnipeg has held the edge in high-danger chances in all three games that they’ve lost (35-14 total). The process would seem to be right, the Jets just aren’t getting the results.
“At the end of the day, I think we’re still leaving things up to chance and giving up too many good opportunities,” said Morgan Barron. “If you can out chance them 6-4 versus 7-3 versus 8-2, that’s where you have to continue to push that down and take chance out of it as much as you can. Just continue to do things that we know will make us successful.”
Of course, one thing that would help the Jets find a victory is secondary scoring. The quartet of Mark Scheifele, Gabriel Vilardi, Kyle Connor, and Josh Morrissey have scored 15 of Winnipeg’s 24 goals over the last 10 games. The remaining forwards aren’t hiding from their responsibility of trying to contribute, either.
Assistant coach Marty Johnston says the Jets have been working various aspects of goal-scoring and finishing into practices.
“It’s about the second-chance opportunities and the bad pucks that come your way in your feet, the rebounds that you can’t practice on a clean sheet of ice,” said Johnston. “It’s okay to have bad ice, it’s okay to have bad pucks, it’s okay to find those in your feet. We’re trying to make sure we finish all our plays. We saw last night there were screens, deflections, tips, all those things that aren’t necessarily a 1-on-0 clean rep. We’re trying to replicate it and the guys buy into it.”
Winnipeg held an optional skate on Thursday at Lenovo Center with the team set to begin a back-to-back set on Friday and Saturday. It’s the start of a run that sees the Jets play six games in 10 days, so the fact that six skaters (Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Vladislav Namestnikov, Jonathan Toews, and Alex Iafallo) weren’t on the ice wasn’t a surprise for Johnston.
“This is about the individual handling himself and taking what he needs,” said Johnston. “This is obviously a condensed schedule but that doesn’t mean we’re making excuses. Everybody has this condensed look to it. It’s about making sure we’re prepared for (Friday).”
As a result of the optional, the Jets didn’t run any formal line rushes. With the 4:00 pm CT puck drop, the team also won’t have a morning skate ahead of the season series finale against Carolina. Warm-up will be the best indication of what the team’s line-up will look like.
Dylan DeMelo, who had an assist in Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to Washington and another in the setback against the Hurricanes last week, feels the Jets are prepared for the type of game Carolina likes to play.
“They always play fast, they sling a lot of pucks to the net, a lot of chaos, but we’ve had some good success against them playing our game and doing the right things,” said DeMelo. “This team forces you to be engaged and play fast, that’s the way the game kind of dictates itself. It’s a great challenge for us against a great team in a real tough building.”
Carolina has dropped two straight since beating Winnipeg. First, it was a 4-1 loss to Buffalo to complete their four-game road trip, which was followed by a 4-2 defeat to the New York Rangers on Wednesday to open a seven-game home stand.
The Hurricanes outshot the Rangers 38-18 in that contest, which left head coach Rod Brind’Amour lamenting some of the offensive chances that got away.
“We couldn’t outscore the couple mistakes we made” he said on Wednesday. “We needed to score on a couple of our chances. You can’t have that many opportunities and not come away with more than what we did.”
So Friday’s tilt is set up to snap one team’s skid. The Jets hope to earn the opportunity to be that team, and even their record on the five-game road trip.
“We’ve been playing better, the effort is there, the commitment is there,” said DeMelo. “First and foremost, you look in the mirror. You know if you have more to give or not, you know what you need to do to help our team out. Take care of that, stay positive, stay with it, and continue to work hard and see what we can do here.”
