JETS REFUEL AFTER FINNISH ADVENTURE
Players dealing with time adjustment and lack of games in return from Helsinki
Being part of the NHL’s Global Series was a good experience for the Winnipeg Jets but there’s a price tag that comes with it.
Upon returning from Finland on Sunday, Jets captain Blake Wheeler said the trip and the pair of games against the Florida Panthers in Helsinki were worthwhile, but the disruption to the team’s schedule and routine is challenging.
“Two games in 12 days in an NHL season is tough,” Wheeler said after the Jets held a 45-minute practice at the Iceplex. “We’d finally kind of got into a rhythm after the Toronto game. So then you gotta hit the brakes a little bit. So that’s a little bit frustrating. You deal with it the best you can. And we’ll be gearing up for Friday.”
The Jets don’t return to action until Friday when the divisionrival Colorado Avalanche pay a visit to Bell MTS Place. They’ll spend that time re-adjusting to their North American time zone after struggling to get used to the time difference in Helsinki.
“It was completely different than any road trip,” Wheeler said. “Half the days were spent sleeping, half the nights were spent watching shows on Netflix. Guys were messed up the entire time. I think their team was, too. I think that’s kind of the frustrating part doing it in the middle of the season, kind of throwing a wrench in everyone’s routine. Like I said, the times we were awake, at the right times, it was nice to spend some time together.”
The Jets went 1-1 in Finland, with sniper Patrik Laine breaking out of an early-season slump by scoring four goals in the two games.
Laine clearly enjoyed the experience of playing — and scoring — in front of family and friends in his home country, but it wasn’t always enjoyable for some of his teammates.
“Oh, I’m thrilled to be home,” centre Adam Lowry said. “It’s nice to be back on normal time.
“I feel great now. Maybe not so much there, but now I feel like I’m back to normal. I don’t think a lot of us really adjusted the whole time we were there. It’s tough going mid-season, with that time change. It’s a long way to go to play two games in 10 days.”
The Jets will not practise on Monday, but are expected to be on the ice the next three days as they get ready for a Colorado team that has a 7-4-3 record and is tied for the most goals scored in the league with 52. The line
of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabe Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen is tearing up the league. Rantanen leads the NHL with 24 points, while MacKinnon is tied for second in points (21) and is tied for first in goals with 11.
So the question is: Is it good for the Jets to have five days after the Finland trip to re-adjust or could it leave them a bit rusty for a key Central Division game against a high-flying opponent?
“It’s good and bad I think,” Lowry said. “You look at our schedule the rest of the way and it’s kind of jam-packed. You go over there and you play two games and you have five days (off ) on both sides basically. You’ve got to make those games up somewhere else.”
As such, the Jets will play 10 games in 20 days between Nov. 9 and 29, a busy stretch that will surely test their status as a frontrunner in the Western Conference.
Jets coach Paul Maurice is certainly of the opinion that this break between games can be useful, especially when players are dealing with jet lag.
Half the days were spent sleeping, half the nights were spent watching Netflix. Guys were messed up the entire time.
“In some ways it’s a three-day block that you don’t get later in the season,” Maurice said. “We’d kind of do what you do between playoff series but not just for one team. We’ll take a look at the parts of the game we’re working on right now, some defensive concepts that we’re trying to get better at. And then use each of the days for a piece of your game.
“The challenge is going to be getting up to speed,’’ said Maurice. “It’s not even kind of a rest thing. It’s when you have a big block and such a change in your schedule and getting yourself right back up to pace. And it’s going to be critical because Colorado’s got an awful lot of speed, so does (Sunday’s opponent) New Jersey, so that’ll be the challenge.”
There are aspects to the Finland road trip that can work in the Jets’ favour as well. Players always talk about the team becoming closer during long road trips, and this one was one of the longest — at least in distance — most of these players will ever take.
“Hopefully, you spend a lot of time together on the road,” Lowry said. “You build those relationships and sometimes it’s not necessarily the results on the ice that can pay the dividends further down the road. I think there was some good team bonding for sure.”