Jets need a few breaks

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This article was published 17/04/2015 (3294 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — When the knives came out for their opening game on Friday’s off day in the Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, the Winnipeg Jets whistled mostly a merry tune.

And it had nothing to do with the fact Disneyland is just up the street.

“Our guys were pretty good,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said after dropping the series opener to the Anaheim Ducks 4-2 on Thursday. “We’re talking about a 2-2 game with seven minutes left.

“There wasn’t a lot of offence generated by both teams. It (Game 2 tonight, 9:30 p.m., Sportsnet, TSN 1290) will be very close to the same. “We played well. It was a tight game. We’ve got some things we can do better and I’m sure they’ll say the same thing.”

Asked if his best players ought to step up their games for tonight, Maurice whistled on.

“I don’t think they were behind a step in the game,” he said. “I think everybody needs to play as well as they possibly can. Our special teams will have to be a little bit stronger.”

That’s where the Jets were their poorest on Thursday.

The Ducks capitalized on two of three power plays, while the visitors converted none of their three.

Jets right-winger Blake Wheeler also saw little need for recriminations about his team’s outing in Game 1.

“I think we put that on ourselves every game,” Wheeler said about stepping it up. “That’s not because of their players. They got a couple of bounces last game. It’s the way we approach every game. Would we like to go out there and put a couple in the net? Obviously.

“But our approach isn’t going to change. If we get a couple go off a skate or get a good bounce go our way, that would be welcome.”

Wheeler had one of the best chances in the second period to put the Jets up by two goals. He hit the post.

“The majority of the game was pretty good,” he said. “We got into penalty trouble and they capitalized on some of the bounces. That’s the way it goes. You can’t get wrapped up in the final score, the way the game ended. The bulk of that game we felt pretty good.”

Winnipeg’s priorities for tonight seem apparent.

“Well, for one we can be more disciplined,” Jets defenceman Tyler Myers said. “They capitalized on their power plays last night when we didn’t. Ultimately that decided the game.”

Wheeler eventually arrived at the same conclusion.

“I don’t think there’s any glaring needs,” he said. “You look at 40 minutes of that game — we go into the dressing room up 2-1. Things were looking good for us but we got into penalty trouble. So I think that would be an area to start, to stay out of the box a little bit especially in the third period.

“But more or less play the way we played getting here. That’s going to give us a shot tomorrow night.”

The matter of wanting to limit Anaheim stars Corey Perry, who had the winner and four points on Thursday, and Ryan Getzlaf, who had three points are also easy to identify.

“They’re obviously very good players on a good team,” Myers said. “You try and limit their time and space as much as possible. When we’re executing our system, we weren’t letting anyone (have) time and space. When we’re executing our system right, that’s what we do.

“I thought last night for the most part, we were doing that. I thought we sat back a little bit in the third. You can’t do that this time of year.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca