HIGH-SCORING GAME TOO WILD FOR JETS
Winnipeg aims to play with control in next meeting with Nashville, writes Paul Friesen
It was a thrill-fest that kept coaches on edge, fans on their feet and most everybody drooling at the prospect of a playoff series between the teams.
But the Winnipeg Jets would rather take a pass on the kind of game they played Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators.
Strange as it may seem, this highly-talented, speedy bunch would rather be on a slowmoving escalator — going up, of course — than on a roller coaster.
“It was an up-and-down game — not ideal for us,” Mathieu Perreault said Wednesday. “A 6-5 game is not the kind of game we want to be playing too much. Blowing the lead, too — we’ve been great this year with the lead. There’s some good, some bad. We just learn from it.
“We can’t be playing runand-gun games like this against offensive teams like that.”
Goal-fests are a like cotton candy: there’s an instant sugar rush, but you know it’s bad for you.
These teams seem to bring out the adolescent in each other. In three meetings this season, they’ve averaged nearly 10 goals combined.
Yet Perreault says the Jets expected a tighter game.
“Two really good goalies that probably didn’t have their best made for a game like this,” he said.
Yes, Connor Hellebuyck and Pekka Rinne had off nights.
Hellebuyck took Wednesday’s practice off, going out early to work with goalie coach Wade Flaherty alone.
Tuesday marked the sixth time he’s given up five or more goals this season.
It also marked the first time the Jets have lost a game outright when leading after two periods (29-1-1).
Twice, they squandered twogoal leads. Now Nashville has a distinct leg up in the race for the Central Division title, leading by four points with a game in hand.
They meet twice more.
If the Jets have their way, those games will be far less entertaining.
First up is Detroit, in Winnipeg Friday.
REAR VIEW
Don’t look now, but the Jets are as close to third place in the division (Minnesota is four points back) as they are to first.
Finishing third would mean losing home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
“Yeah, they’re coming,” Perreault said of the Wild. “We haven’t played them in a little while. It’s nice to be at home, especially with this crowd, when playoffs come around. I remember from last time it was electric in the building.
“We’ve got to try to get home ice and then go from there.”
REASONABLE FACSIMILE?
Tuesday’s game seemed to have an extra dose of intensity.
“We marked it as probably the most important game up to this point in the season,” Nashville’s Roman Josi said, post-game.
Given the Jets have so many players with little or no playoff experience, you wonder if games like that during the stretch drive could maybe replicate playoff pressure and provide some valuable lessons in the Jets room.
“We talk about it every day, trying to build towards getting ready for that playoff style,” Josh Morrissey said. “Playing in those big games can teach you a lot going down the stretch.”
Morrissey has never been in a playoff game.
Perreault, who has, says not even the stretch drive can provide a reasonable facsimile to the post-season.
“Once playoffs starts it’s a completely different game,” Perreault said. “Every personal stat goes right out the window, and it’s all about winning the game. I guess we’ll learn as we go.
“We’ll see what we’re made of once playoffs comes around.”
BEEN THERE, DONE IT
Perreault says you can see the playoff experience Nashville got last year — reaching the Stanley Cup Final — in their game.
“Definitely. They’re a really hard team to play against. They’re in your face, they’re making plays. You can feel that. You can feel the confidence on their side. At the same time, we can play with them. We could have easily won that game.
“It’s not a team we should be scared of at all.”
Head coach Paul Maurice addressed the issue of the “playoff grind” style of hockey, specifically winning puck battles, in his post-game comments.
Maurice appeared ready to say the Preds were ahead of the Jets on that front, but stopped.
“I wouldn’t say they’re further on it,” he said. “They’ve got some experience with it. It’s also what we’re really, really good at when we’re on our game.”
SCHEIFELE VS. SUBBAN
Maybe this was a lesson, maybe it wasn’t.
Should Mark Scheifele, the Jets’ top centre, be dropping his gloves to go after anybody, like he did Nashville’s P.K. Subban on Tuesday?
That’s out of character and something you’d think he’d want to keep a lid on come playoff time.
Scheifele downplayed his runins with Subban with a simple “that’s hockey.”
“Our emotions get the best of us,” Scheifele said. “We got pretty heated, but all in all it’s fun playing against a team like that.”