Jets prove consistently inconsistent
Loss to lowly Avalanche a reminder there’s still plenty of work to do for young team
DENVER — How does a coach know when his team has turned the corner?
That was the question posed to Winnipeg Jets bench boss Paul Maurice as his post-game scrum was winding down on Saturday afternoon following a 5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
You can be sure it’s a question he’s asked himself at various points during the 2016-17 season, one which has the Jets currently sitting at 25-26-4 as they head home to open a four-game homestand on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild.
It’s hard to expect a coach to be really philosophical in the aftermath of a disheartening loss to one of the worst teams in the NHL, but figured it was worth a try.
The answer might surprise you, or at least part of the answer anyway.
“Which way?” Maurice mused, before getting a bit more serious. “Every game starts to look the same, regardless of the outcome. That you can count on certain things. But dominance won’t be the reason that you think you’ve turned the corner.”
There are times when Maurice is spitting nails after a loss and there are times when he doesn’t have a lot to say, at least not publicly to members of the fifth estate.
There are others when he does his best to try and seek out the positives, but on Saturday there were very few of those.
Part of being a head coach is taking the temperature of the group and knowing when he needs to breathe fire and when he needs to stay calm.
Maurice was upset about losing to the Avalanche. It was a missed opportunity for his group to win four consecutive games for the first time since the final four games of last season.
No matter what Maurice or the players do to suggest the media has made a bigger deal of the lack of a three-game winning streak until Game 54, they know being around — and especially below — the .500 mark isn’t going to get the job done or to stay in this tight race for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.
For all of the talk about learning to play the right way, something obvious is missing in the Jets game, that is, an enthusiastic commitment to playing harder defensively. “It’s a mindset,” said Maurice. The Jets had that mindset during the 2014-15 season and it resulted in the first playoff berth for the franchise since 2007.
They didn’t fully have it before and they haven’t had it since.
It’s obvious the Jets’ roster has undergone a change since then, with more of an emphasis placed on youth and skill, being responsible defensively is a core value for any team with championship aspirations.
Until the Jets get back to making that a priority, they’re likely to be a team that is up-and-down.
Jekyll and Hyde, a group that is nearly impossible to figure out.
Scoring goals and producing highlight-reel plays is a lot more fun than being the third guy high or making sure to be on the defensive side of the puck down low.
This isn’t about stifling creativity either.
Goal-scoring is an integral part of success and the Jets have to use those offensive weapons to their advantage, but it has to be done without cutting corners.
There are going to be times when the Jets can get into a track meet and come out on top, but it’s not the style of game that’s conducive to winning when it matters most.
“There’s a theme running through our last (few) games. We played a different style of team, so the trading of chances was there,” said Maurice.
“Defensively, we’ve got lots of room to improve and an appreciation for the quality of defence we need to play nightly where we can get better.”
As Maurice pointed out in the exchange, not many of the young players incorporated into the lineup were considered defensive specialists when they came into the NHL.
Naturally, it’s going to take some time but this isn’t to suggest the young players are the only ones responsible for defensive lapses, not in the least.
There’s plenty of veterans making errors that are resulting in goals.
The reality is that until the Jets have a full commitment to being better in the defensive zone and doing a better job of managing the puck, the ups-and-downs are going to continue.
Sure, there will be games where the Jets look like world-beaters and you’ll wonder why consistency has been such a hard thing to find for this talented group.
But there will also be obvious signs this team needs to buckle down in the most important area before the Jets become a legitimate contender.