The Winnipeg Jets probably should have snapped their losing streak in their last two games, but poor special teams mean the streak is now five and counting at a critical time of the season.
Power Play Impotent Versus Oilers and Golden Knights
If the Jets had converted on even a few of their many glorious power-play opportunities they had at key moments against the Oilers Tuesday or Golden Knights Thursday, they probably would have won both games. Unfortunately, both power-play units were impotent, going a combined zero-for-10 in the pair of contests, proving again that sometimes being good at five-on-five isn’t enough to win.
Against the Oilers, the Jets’ disorganized and predictable man advantage went zero-for-five. Most egregiously, they mustered up zero shots on a four-minute second-period power play while behind 2-1 after Connor Brown high sticked Dylan DeMelo.
If the Jets had tied the game on that man advantage, the Oilers’ third-period goal would have put them up 3-2 instead of 3-1, and the two goals the Jets scored in 60 seconds thereafter would have given them a 4-3 lead instead of drawing the game even.
The Jets had another great — and undeserved chance — to win in the final minutes when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was called for high-sticking Adam Lowry, even though it was actually DeMelo’s stick that caught his teammate up high. The Jets didn’t come close to scoring, the game went into overtime, and Zach Hyman quickly potted one to give the Oilers the win.
It was just “another night” in a growing list of contests that “our speciality teams cost us the game,” a frustrated head coach Rick Bowness said postgame.
“We gave up another power play goal against and our power play didn’t do anything,” he said. “We didn’t support the puck quick enough. Too much one-on-one and not making the next play. When you’re under pressure, you’ve got to be able to make that next play. And we weren’t making it. That’s what it comes down to. You need to work hard, you need support on the puck but when you get it, you’ve got to be able to make that next play and we weren’t making it because we didn’t handle the puck well enough.”
It was a similar story against the Golden Knights, with the Jets once again going zero-for-five. They did generate quite a few dangerous chances, mainly due to adopting a “shoot-first” mentality and trying to generate chaos and rebounds rather than overpassing around the perimeter of the umbrella to try and set up the “perfect play.” However, not a single power-play chance beat Logan Thompson.
Most notably, in the third period with the game tied 1-1, Nikolaj Ehlers whiffed on a wide-open net after being set up with a beautiful cross-crease pass from Vladislav Namestnikov. Shortly after, Ivan Barbishev scored the game-winning goal. The lack of power-play success costing them the game was even more painful considering the Jets soundly outplayed the Golden Knights in the second and third periods, outshooting them 30-13.
“It was a little more dangerous. And we missed a wide-open net in the third period. You want those to go in. And we still generated shots,” Bowness said of the power play post game. “Bottom line is we’ve got to score on it. No getting away from that. You have to score on it. We had five opportunities. We put more pucks to the net and had some better looks but you have to score, and we didn’t score.”
The Jets’ power play has been an issue all season except a brief stretch of success in January and February, when Gabriel Vilardi — who has missed a month due to an enlarged spleen and other undisclosed injury but is slated to return Saturday against the Ottawa Senators — provided a strong net-front presence. Since going three-for-three against the Anaheim Ducks on March 15, they are just one-for-21 and are operating at a 17.9 per cent efficiency, 22nd in the league. That’s subpar considering how talented the team is on paper, and especially after adding Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli in the last two months.
Related: Jets Need to Be Concerned With Gabriel Vilardi’s Repeated Injuries
Assistant coach Brad Lauer, who runs the power play, should certainly feel his seat heating up if his units continue to bumble through the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs.
Penalty Kill Also Struggling Through Slump
The Jets penalty kill hasn’t been sharp, either. They killed off their only time shorthanded against the Golden Knights, but allowed a critical goal against the Oilers. Ehlers, with his club down 2-1 in the third, like Brown, took a double-minor for high sticking. Unlike the Jets, however, the Oilers put the puck right to the net and scored less than 30 seconds into the man advantage. The juxtaposition between the Oilers’ aggressive penalty killing style — where one man is always chasing the puck carrier and forcing him to shoot or pass sooner than he wants to — and the Jets’ style of passively collapsing in front of the net could not be ignored on the goal.
The penalty kill also allowed a critical marker against the Washington Capitals on March 24, just 1:21 into the third period. The game was tied 0-0 after two, with the Jets almost completely shutting the Capitals down through 40. However, after John Carlson’s power-play goal, the floodgates opened and the Capitals scored two more.
Poor penalty killing is one of the major reasons the losing streak started to begin with. Against the New Jersey Devils on March 22, two days removed from the Jets’ impressive, playoff-style victory over the New York Rangers, the penalty kill allowed three goals on four Devils chances; only the Devils’ empty-netter to make it 4-1 was a non-power play goal. The clip below is the perfect example of their passivity.
Like the power play, the penalty kill has been an issue for most of the season. The Jets have killed off just 76.62 per cent of their penalties, 24th in the NHL. Last season, they killed off 82.43 per cent and were seventh league-wide.
Jets Free-Falling In Central Division Standings
The Jets cannot take any comfort or claim any moral victories in playing better against the Oilers and Golden Knights than they did against the Devils, Islanders, or Capitals. Moral victories are for early October, not late March, and the fact is they are free-falling out of the Central Division’s top three, where they have been for nearly the entire season.
The Jets are still third, now seven points behind the Colorado Avalanche and four points behind the Dallas Stars. The Nashville Predators are hot on their heels, just four points behind thanks to an 18-game point streak (16-0-2) in that span that just ended with a loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Friday. Both the Jets and Predators have nine games remaining and face each other one more time.
Whether the Jets finish third or fourth, they will be an easy out no matter who their first-round opponent is if they keep playing as they are now, especially on special teams. A second-straight early exit would be a huge disappointment considering the talent general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has brought in and that the team, at points in January, topped the NHL standings.
The Jets will try to get things sorted out again tonight against the Senators as the five-game stretch at Canada Life Centre continues.