Jets tread fine line between defence and offence

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This article was published 24/10/2014 (3470 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The tug-of-war between playing defence and creating offence again took up much time at Winnipeg Jets practice Saturday at the MTS Iceplex.

The Jets, coming off a 4-2 Friday-night loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, spent much of their workout in instruction mode, getting counseling from head coach Paul Maurice on how he wants things done.

Against Tampa Bay, Winnipeg was burned several times by defensive mistakes or reads.

“We gave up some good chances in that game and some of that is directly due to their skill level,” Maurice said today, as he prepared his team to meet the Colorado Avalanche Sunday afternoon at the MTS Centre. (2 p.m., TSN3, TSN1290). “We just didn’t have enough solid positional play.”

Maurice was serious and focused during today’s workout but while he got intense, he never lost his cool.

“Two-pass two-on-one, you never like to see that,” he said, describing Tampa Bay’s first goal by Steven Stamkos on Friday. “Because your goaltender’s got no chance of making that play.”

“We want to make sure we’re owning all of them without crushing the team with, ‘Every mistake is the end of the world.’ But we’re at the high end of shots for in the NHL from where you want them and we’re at the low end from where you don’t want them. We’re giving up too much.

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“Our great challenge here is going to be able to keep that high number of offensive chances and cut down the other without giving up both.”

Winnipeg, now 2-5 and 1-3 on this five-game homestand, has given up 20 goals in seven games so far. The team has scored just 13.

Today, with left-winger Anthony Peluso still sidelined with an upper-body injury, the Jets recalled Patrice Cormier from the St. John’s IceCaps.

He has scored two goals in the team’s first four games of the AHL season.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca