Habs shellacking one-off for usually high-flying Jets
Winnipeg looks to put stinker in rear-view, return to playing like an elite hockey team
It’s a stretch to suggest the vultures are circling or that the rest of the NHL has finally found the formula to beat the Winnipeg Jets. But when a team such as the Jets is on the receiving end of a one-sided shellacking, like the 5-2 blowout that wasn’t as close as the score might suggest, the microscope is bound to come out. The Jets were thoroughly outplayed — and outskated — by the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. That much was obvious. Only the brilliant play of Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck kept this one close until the Canadiens left the Jets in the dust during the third period. Jets head coach Paul Maurice and several players were quick to call it a one-off — and for good reason. Not a lot of teams make the Jets look slow and they’ve earned the benefit of the doubt during the past two seasons as they’ve blossomed into a contender. “Playing quick is not just how fast your feet move,” Jets forward Andrew Copp said. “It’s how fast you process things, how fast you move the puck, your anticipation, your puck support. A lot of those things (the Canadiens) did really well and we didn’t.” This wasn’t one of those cases where the video evidence was going to make Maurice feel better than he did after media the media on Thursday night — when the quotes were colourful and the wound was still fresh. “No, everything you need was right there,” Maurice said. “Lots of times you walk off the bench after losses and say, ‘we were better than I thought’ once you go through the video. And the opposite is true — after a bunch of wins, we weren’t quite as good. That one felt like it should have, after you walk off the bench. It looked exactly like that after you went through it.” Losses like that sting, but that doesn’t mean they have a lasting effect. The Jets have lost consecutive games only four times this season — and yes, this latest time includes an overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks where a point was earned. In the three prior occasions — which included consecutive defeats in regulation — the Jets responded by going 3-0 and outscoring their opponents by a 16-10 margin. “We talk about it in our room and you look around the league at teams that do well, even over the entire history of the league, you don’t want to have two bad games in a row,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey, who is expected to return to the lineup on Saturday after missing one game with a lower body injury he sustained after blocking a shot. “We’ve responded well to some tough nights and to losses this year. That’s part of showing some maturity from our team and we’re going to have to do that again.” What has allowed the Jets to be so good at regrouping from those occasional off nights? “It’s just flushing it, honestly. Just leaving that game where it was and try and not let those lost two points affect the next possible two,” Copp said. “It’s a clean slate. We’ve learned that over the course of the last couple of years and have been able to apply it pretty well. “We’ve been generally consistent. That’s been something over the last two years that we’ve done a good job of. There are going to be nights here and there where we don’t have it. But over the course of 82, you’re going to have a game or two like that. It’s about how you respond that is going to be the telltale of how our team is.” The Jets remain in top spot in the Central Division standings, while the Senators are currently 31st in the NHL (with 45 points) and might be on the verge of moving out several of their best players prior to the trade deadline. That doesn’t make them an easy target, nor does it have much impact on what the Jets plan to do as they continue this Eastern Canada swing. “We’ve been pretty good at being able to get our focus back on what makes us good,” Maurice said. “We got a real good lesson from Montreal; really, their game is what we’re good at, and we didn’t have it on display. And they had it on full display. We have a fairly clean idea of what our game identity is. So, we don’t have to search for it too long. So that’s the test.” It shouldn’t take long to see if the Jets will pass the test or need to go back to the drawing board as they close out a three-game road trip on Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres.
We got a real good lesson from Montreal; really, their game is what we’re good at, and we didn’t have it on display. And they had it on full display.