Breaking down Winnipeg’s playoff chase
Jets will, uh... take it one game at a time, give it 110 per cent
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/02/2020 (1493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Expect a lot of canned, clichéd responses over the next few weeks from the Winnipeg Jets.
Insightful gems such as, ‘We control our own destiny,’ or fan favourite, ‘Our fate is in our own hands.’ How about the ever popular, ‘The ball’s in our court.’
As frustrating as it will be to hear those hackneyed phrases, they’ll come with a certain amount of truth.
Head coach Paul Maurice and his Central Division squad have 17 games remaining in the 2019-20 NHL season. Of those, 11 are against teams either slightly ahead, even or nipping at Winnipeg’s heels in the Western Conference standings.
Maurice always describes the team’s workload in blocks of games; well, the Jets have a five-week block on the calendar to solidify a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
And the current group of players will have to do.
Monday’s NHL trade deadline came and went with no action in Winnipeg, although two solid veterans — centre Cody Eakin and defenceman Dylan DeMelo — were picked up a few days before the trade freeze. There should soon be an infusion of talent by way of healthy bodies with blue-liner Josh Morrissey (upper body) listed as day to day, and forwards Adam Lowry (upper body) and Mathieu Perreault (upper body) getting closer to a return.
DeMelo, 26, a five-year veteran acquired from the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 18 for a third-round draft pick this summer, said he’s been struck by the cameraderie within the Jets dressing room, and the mix of high-end skill and stubborn work ethic on the ice.
“Watching from the outside, this is a team that has gone through a lot of adversity. They’ve obviously had some big players losses (during the off-season) and just a ton of injuries throughout the year, yet they’ve battled really hard. I think this team would be in an even better spot, because we’ve got some great players that are out,” DeMelo said in a recent interview.
“This group has done a great job of staying in the mix here, and with me and (Eakin) our job is to fit in as quickly as possible and help this team string together a bunch of wins.”
The Jets did themselves no favours on a four-game eastern road trip that began favourably in Ottawa, went sideways in Philadelphia and Buffalo, and ended with a demonstration of resolute will and solidarity in Washington, D.C.
The Calgary Flames (33-25-6) have 72 points and hold down the first wild-card spot in the conference. Winnipeg (32-27-6) sits tied with the Nashville Predators (31-23-8) and Arizona Coyotes (31-27-8), all with 70 points. But the standings have the Jets positioned below the Predators for the second wild-card spot because they’ve played three more games than their rivals from Tennessee.
Games in hand have value only if they result in victories, and the Predators have been stringing wins together with some regularity lately, going 6-3-1 in their last 10, including triumphs over the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators in their last two outings.
Winnipeg, meanwhile, is 5-4-1 in its last 10 games, including those ugly defeats to the Flyers and Sabres, followed up with a spirited comeback from a 3-0 deficit Tuesday night against the Capitals, who prevailed 4-3 in a shootout on the strength of a filthy deke by Alex Ovechkin, who was honoured before the game after scoring his 700th NHL goal Saturday.
The Capitals, tops in the Metropolitan Division at 39-18-6, visit Winnipeg tonight to complete the home-and-home series with the Jets. Game time is 7 p.m. at Bell MTS Place.
There is no love lost between the Jets and Preds, who collide only once (March 24 at Bridgestone Arena) down the stretch. Winnipeg has a pair of meetings with the Flames in Calgary (March 14, 31) and the Coyotes (March 9 in Winnipeg and April 4 in Glendale).
Winnipeg also plays twice at home (March 6, 29) against the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights (34-22-8) who hold a two-point lead over the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers.
The Jets play the Oilers twice (Feb. 29 and March 11, both in Edmonton) and once in Vancouver (March 15). Winnipeg can’t lose sight of the Minnesota Wild (30-25-7) in its rear-view mirror, either. Minnesota is just three points back and has a March 20 visit to Winnipeg on the calendar.
jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @WFPJasonBell
Jason Bell
Sports editor
Jason Bell wanted to be a lawyer when he was a kid. The movie The Paper Chase got him hooked on the idea of law school and, possibly, falling in love with someone exactly like Lindsay Wagner (before she went all bionic).