JETS IN TOUGH WITHOUT BUFF
Playoff hopes take Byfuglien- type hit
The Winnipeg Jets aren’t strangers to climbing out of a deep hole. Especially one they dug themselves.
They started out that way last October, losing five of their first seven games, but have battled all season long through a series of key injuries and the off- ice Evander Kane controversy.
And Thursday, the Jets found themselves with more digging to do when one of their most important players — defenceman Dustin Byfuglien — was suspended for four of their final five games as punishment for his vicious cross- check to the neck of J. T. Miller in Tuesday’s loss to the New York Rangers. Byfuglien is the Jets’ fifth- leading scorer ( 18- 27- 45), is a big part of the power play and logs nearly 23 minutes of ice time per game.
So bring on the adversity, as the Jets begin the white- knuckle stretch to end the regular season, which will determine whether Winnipeg can qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the former Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg in 2011.
Deliciously enough, it begins against the Jets’ red- hot Canadian cousins, the Vancouver Canucks, Saturday at the MTS Centre. The Jets have lost both previous games to the Canucks this season.
Jets captain Andrew Ladd, a Maple Ridge, B. C., native, told the Winnipeg Free Press before the NHL ruling that whatever happens is out of the team’s control.
“It doesn’t look good on video, but it’s easy to slow it down after the fact,” Ladd said following Thursday’s practice.
“Over the course of the game, things happen quick. I know he didn’t mean to get him in the neck. He was probably trying to get him in the back and hit the wrong spot.”
The Jets played without Byfuglien when he was injured for nine games last month, but went 6- 3 over that span.
Ladd said the Jets have lots of experience playing with key performers sidelined. They certainly have, missing four of their top defencemen as well as top forwards Bryan Little and Mathieu Perreault at times. Little and Perreault just returned to the lineup.
“It’s something we’ve dealt with the entire year,” Ladd said.
The Jets were on a five- game winning streak and looking good to qualify in the Western Conference, but since have lost two straight and three of four. They have 90 points and were in eighth place in the West heading into Thursday’s games, but probably need to win four of the five games to see the post- season.
A win by the Los Angeles Kings Thursday over the Edmonton Oilers will allow them to tie the Jets with 90 points, but would move them into the final wild- card spot by virtue of having more regulation and overtime wins.
Winnipeg, which closes the regular season at home April 11 against the Calgary Flames, faces just one non- playoff team in its final five games, while the Kings get four.