Jets glean positives from Game 2 double-OT loss
Young squad showed character and grit in see-saw overtime thriller in Nashville
The Winnipeg Jets did not win Sunday night, but they experienced another first in a season full of them.
The Jets played into double overtime before finally succumbing to the Nashville Predators 5-4 at Bridgestone Arena. They came from behind three times just to get to the extra frame.
For a team full of young players dipping their feet into the playoff pool for the first time, this one will go down as a life lesson under the heading “sink or swim.”
“It’s an important process for us to go through having lost an overtime game,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s something we had to deal with at some point.”
The Jets want to go deep into the playoffs, perhaps even win the Stanley Cup, and do it again in the years to come. There will be games like Sunday’s epic battle along the way and now the Jets can at least say they’ve tested the turbulent waters of a lengthy NHL playoff overtime.
Despite a disappointing loss, there were so many positive take-aways for the Jets, not the least of which was their resolve. After giving up a goal 27 seconds into the game, the Jets tied it, took the lead, fell behind, tied it again, fell behind again and tied it again on Mark Scheifele’s second goal of the game with 1:05 left in the third period.
“We had a lot of pushback for a youthful team that we have,” veteran centre Matt Hendricks said. “We’ve got 21-year-olds saying the right things in the room and then going out and doing the best they can do on the ice. That’s all you can ask for.”
The Predators had the better chances in the extra periods and finally capitalized 5:37 into double overtime when Kevin Fiala scored on a two-on-one.
It was veteran defenceman Toby Enstrom who got caught pinching, so the Jets couldn’t blame their youthfulness for the mistake that led to the gamewinning goal.
So what did they learn, first and foremost?
“That we’re never out of a hockey game,” Hendricks said. “We’ve gone through this lesson a few times during the regular season where we had to pull the goalie to get the extra attacker and we’ve come through.”
The greedy side of the Jets would have loved to come home with a delicious 2-0 lead in the series, especially when they haven’t lost at home in 12 games. But being tied 1-1 is a good thing for the same reasons. The Jets now have home-ice advantage in what has become a best-of-five series and Bell MTS Place, along with the surrounding area, is sure to be a zoo once again.
It should be pointed out that the last time the Jets lost a home game, it was a 6-5 decision to the Predators on Feb. 27, in which they gave up three goals in the final nine minutes to blow a lead.
That was more than two months ago and that game was a lesson, too. The Jets learned a lot from it.
They beat the Preds the next time they played and topped them again in Game 1 of this second-round series Friday.
As a group, they’re learning how to not get caught up in the highs and lows of playoff hockey, embracing the grind, accepting that it’s more about overall play than personal stats.
To that end, you might point to three of the Jets’ young stars and question their contribution to the series, they being Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers, who combined for 104 goals during the regular season. They have two goals in the playoffs.
That’s one less than grinder Brandon Tanev has.
Laine does have six points in seven games and has generated 24 shots on goal, but he doesn’t seem to have the usual quickness on his release and many are wondering if he is labouring due to an injury.
Ehlers and Connor seem to have no confidence around the net, though each player has three assists. Ehlers used his speed to generate a rebound goal by Paul Stastny in Game 1 and Connor, who seems to be having a hard time finding the strength to get into the greasy areas, has contributed to Scheifele leading in playoff goals with eight.
But so far, the real drivers of this series have been the veterans, particularly Scheifele, captain Blake Wheeler, defenceman Dustin Byfuglien and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.
Hellebuyck isn’t really a veteran, with only two seasons under his belt, but he sure plays like one.
Defenceman Josh Morrissey, who is just 23, has been rock solid, while rookie Jack Roslovic has mostly been a non-factor while playing on an oddball fourth line with Hendricks and Andrew Copp.
The Jets should be close to getting another veteran back in forward Mathieu Perreault, who has been out for six games, which should help restore some of the balance to their lines.
But as this series shifts to Winnipeg and the whiteout madness hits a new level, the Jets will need more contributions from everybody — and that means big goals from their big goal scorers.
Hendricks believes Laine, Connor and Ehlers are absorbing the keys to playoff success with every shift, and in a series where one big goal — cue the Fiala double OT highlight — can make all the difference, it’s only a matter of time before they get one.
“We got better over that day and a half between Game 1 and 2,” Hendricks said. “You can see the belief system in this room and the resolve and all those cliche words. They’re there and they’re real and you can feel them in here.”
Jets fans believe, too. After watching the first two games of this series, why wouldn’t they?
We’ve got 21-year-olds saying the right things in the room and then going out and doing the best they can do on the ice. That’s all you can ask for.