It is not a good time to be a fan of the Winnipeg Jets.
Following a disappointing road trip to which the Jets won just one of four games out east, the team returned to Canada Life Centre on Friday night for what many were dubbing to be 'the game of the season' for two of the Central Division's top teams. Taking on a fast-climbing Colorado Avalanche team, the Jets fell apart, and quick.
Connor Hellebuyck gave up four goals on the game's first five shots, as the Jets dropped their fourth game in five, this one, by a 5-1 final. With Bo Horvat and the familiar New York Islanders in town on Sunday, Winnipeg turned to backup David Rittich in an attempt to shake things up.
It didn't work.
The Jets were beaten heavily, by way of a 4-0 shutout.
“We gotta figure it out," Pierre-Luc Dubois said post-game. "I, personally, individually, I don’t think it’s one guy that has the answer in here. It’s everybody together. It’s the coaching staff. We all gotta figure it out."
Rittich gave up an absolute stinker in the first period - a long-range shorthanded tally by Horvat midway through the frame, but did manage to stop everything else that came his way in the opening period. It could have been worse, but a power play goal initially awarded to New York was called back thanks to an Anders Lee high-stick, en route to the net.
Winnipeg managed just one shot on net in the frame, and it came as a long-range, zone-clearer from the team's most defensive defenceman.
https://twitter.com/CBrooksie84/status/1629950734899789832
“It just wasn’t good enough," Josh Morrissey said. "We need to be better in the first periods, we need to be better off the start, and we can’t be a fragile team right now. Im not saying that we are, but we certainly can’t fall into that mode."
The second period was better, as the Jets put forth a significantly better effort. Rallying for 14 shots on net, Winnipeg narrowed the gap to just five shots through 40 minutes.
But the problem is, the Islanders kept playing too. They potted two quick ones past a beleaguered David Rittich, widening the gap to 3-0.
"You guys see it, we’re not playing good hockey right now," Dubois added. "But at the same time, we can turn this around and turn it into a positive. We just gotta get going. Time’s running out. There’s not a lot of games left, relatively. But everybody in this room is going to have to talk about it and figure it out."
First, it was a long-range clapper from blueliner Alex Romanov, whose shot found its way through a Matt Martin screen, bringing it to 2-0 just 4:22 into the period. Then, with Kyle Connor attempting to go for the puck, rather than the man, forward Brock Nelson deked his way into the Jets' zone and put a wrist shot through Rittich with 1:19 to go.
The liveliest moments of the second period stemmed from Pierre-Luc Dubois' third career fight, as he dropped the mitts against known pest Scott Mayfield.
The third period provided nothing, literally nothing for either team. Winnipeg did pull Rittich for the extra attacker with just under five minutes to go, but it resulted in a long-range Adam Pelech rebounder, as the Isles' defender banked it off the wall from behind his own goal line and down the ice into the empty net.
Winnipeg has just nine goals in its last six games - five of which are losses. In those five losses, five total goals for.
And in terms of goals against? 19 by their opponents.
Not good.
Karson Kuhlman and Logan Stanley served as the scratches, while recently-acquired Nino Niederreiter is expected to arrive in Winnipeg later in the day. Listed as a non-roster player, the Jets were able to recall Axel Jonsson-Fjallby from the Moose after sending him down to make room for Niederreiter just one day prior. He skated on a line with Adam Lowry and Saku Maenalanen.
Rittich ended the night with 20 saves on 23 Islanders shots, while seeing his record fall to 9-6-0 on the year. Varlamov had 23 stops for his second shutout of the season, and improved his record to 11-7-2 on the season.
The loss, paired with a Minnesota Wild victory means that the Jets are officially sitting in the Wild Card playoff running. Thanks to the Toronto Maple Leafs beating Seattle, Winnipeg remained in Wild Card position No. 1, as opposed to No. 2, should the Kraken have beaten Toronto.
Yes, this is the same Winnipeg club that was battling for first place in the Western Conference less than two weeks ago.
"The more adversity you go through, if you can figure it out, the stronger you get," Dubois said. "So for us right now, the answer is in here. We can’t wait for other teams to start losing. Can’t hope for other teams to start losing. Every other playoff race you see it. You look at the standings and you don’t want to be the team that’s hoping that the other team loses. You want to be able to build your game and get ready for the postseason.”
Winnipeg will look to somehow salvage a singular win on the three-game homestand on Tuesday when the Los Angeles Kings come to visit Canada Life Centre. The team should have newly-acquired Nino Niederreiter in the lineup for the Western Conference tilt as his Visa issues will likely be solved at that point. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM central time, while the game can be viewed live on TSN.
"It wasn’t there for us tonight," Morrissey said. "I thought we did some really good things and we have some things to build off of. There wasn’t a whole lot to build off from the Colorado game, but we’ll take those positives tonight and be ready for a big game against L.A., who we are fighting with points-wise as well.”
It didn't work.
The Jets were beaten heavily, by way of a 4-0 shutout.
“We gotta figure it out," Pierre-Luc Dubois said post-game. "I, personally, individually, I don’t think it’s one guy that has the answer in here. It’s everybody together. It’s the coaching staff. We all gotta figure it out."
Rittich gave up an absolute stinker in the first period - a long-range shorthanded tally by Horvat midway through the frame, but did manage to stop everything else that came his way in the opening period. It could have been worse, but a power play goal initially awarded to New York was called back thanks to an Anders Lee high-stick, en route to the net.
Winnipeg managed just one shot on net in the frame, and it came as a long-range, zone-clearer from the team's most defensive defenceman.
https://twitter.com/CBrooksie84/status/1629950734899789832
“It just wasn’t good enough," Josh Morrissey said. "We need to be better in the first periods, we need to be better off the start, and we can’t be a fragile team right now. Im not saying that we are, but we certainly can’t fall into that mode."
The second period was better, as the Jets put forth a significantly better effort. Rallying for 14 shots on net, Winnipeg narrowed the gap to just five shots through 40 minutes.
But the problem is, the Islanders kept playing too. They potted two quick ones past a beleaguered David Rittich, widening the gap to 3-0.
"You guys see it, we’re not playing good hockey right now," Dubois added. "But at the same time, we can turn this around and turn it into a positive. We just gotta get going. Time’s running out. There’s not a lot of games left, relatively. But everybody in this room is going to have to talk about it and figure it out."
First, it was a long-range clapper from blueliner Alex Romanov, whose shot found its way through a Matt Martin screen, bringing it to 2-0 just 4:22 into the period. Then, with Kyle Connor attempting to go for the puck, rather than the man, forward Brock Nelson deked his way into the Jets' zone and put a wrist shot through Rittich with 1:19 to go.
The liveliest moments of the second period stemmed from Pierre-Luc Dubois' third career fight, as he dropped the mitts against known pest Scott Mayfield.
The third period provided nothing, literally nothing for either team. Winnipeg did pull Rittich for the extra attacker with just under five minutes to go, but it resulted in a long-range Adam Pelech rebounder, as the Isles' defender banked it off the wall from behind his own goal line and down the ice into the empty net.
Winnipeg has just nine goals in its last six games - five of which are losses. In those five losses, five total goals for.
And in terms of goals against? 19 by their opponents.
Not good.
Karson Kuhlman and Logan Stanley served as the scratches, while recently-acquired Nino Niederreiter is expected to arrive in Winnipeg later in the day. Listed as a non-roster player, the Jets were able to recall Axel Jonsson-Fjallby from the Moose after sending him down to make room for Niederreiter just one day prior. He skated on a line with Adam Lowry and Saku Maenalanen.
Rittich ended the night with 20 saves on 23 Islanders shots, while seeing his record fall to 9-6-0 on the year. Varlamov had 23 stops for his second shutout of the season, and improved his record to 11-7-2 on the season.
The loss, paired with a Minnesota Wild victory means that the Jets are officially sitting in the Wild Card playoff running. Thanks to the Toronto Maple Leafs beating Seattle, Winnipeg remained in Wild Card position No. 1, as opposed to No. 2, should the Kraken have beaten Toronto.
Yes, this is the same Winnipeg club that was battling for first place in the Western Conference less than two weeks ago.
"The more adversity you go through, if you can figure it out, the stronger you get," Dubois said. "So for us right now, the answer is in here. We can’t wait for other teams to start losing. Can’t hope for other teams to start losing. Every other playoff race you see it. You look at the standings and you don’t want to be the team that’s hoping that the other team loses. You want to be able to build your game and get ready for the postseason.”
Winnipeg will look to somehow salvage a singular win on the three-game homestand on Tuesday when the Los Angeles Kings come to visit Canada Life Centre. The team should have newly-acquired Nino Niederreiter in the lineup for the Western Conference tilt as his Visa issues will likely be solved at that point. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM central time, while the game can be viewed live on TSN.
"It wasn’t there for us tonight," Morrissey said. "I thought we did some really good things and we have some things to build off of. There wasn’t a whole lot to build off from the Colorado game, but we’ll take those positives tonight and be ready for a big game against L.A., who we are fighting with points-wise as well.”
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