Club battled, will learn from mistakes: Bowness

There was no mic-drop moment this time around from Rick Bowness.

Rather, hurt feelings have given way to the gut-wrenching pain that comes with a missed opportunity.

For all of the comparisons people have made as the Winnipeg Jets were eliminated in five games in successive seasons, there was something decidedly different about the way this team went down.

“We just played a recent Stanley Cup winning team, a lot of those same pieces there. And they brought it and it should be a learning experience for us …”–Josh Morrissey

Last spring, after winning the series opener and losing four consecutive games to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Jets head coach lambasted his team for its inability to push back, saying he was disappointed and disgusted.

That criticism wasn’t well received by Jets players, who shared their dismay following exit meetings.

This time, there was no repeat performance on the ice, as these players went down swinging — playing their best collective game when the season was on the line — even in a 6-3 defeat to the visiting Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.

While that will serve as little consolation right now for a core group that has not enjoyed the postseason success it envisioned, two members of the leadership group exemplified what is required for the Jets to take the next step in the painstaking journey.

Jets defenceman and alternate captain Josh Morrissey was as emotional as he has been all season and he provided the type of answers you would expect from someone who was his team’s best player in this series.

“We just played a recent Stanley Cup winning team, a lot of those same pieces there. And they brought it and it should be a learning experience for us as much as it stings and kills right now, we have to be better, we have to find another gear as individuals and it’s impossible for that to set in right now,” said Morrissey.

Earlier in the day, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar discussed how his team overcame playoff disappointments to capture the Stanley Cup in 2022.

“I don’t think you can (measure it), but I know this – the buy-in and the commitment from our team after we lost a couple years in the second round, from Day 1 in training camp in 2022, coming back with a lot of the same group, was off the charts,” said Bednar.

“It would have been hard to measure the gain we got from the commitment standpoint, the focus on what it would take to win in the playoffs based on the previous year.

“You always think you’re a team that can win. We felt that for years and went through the heartbreak and something needed to change. Structurally, tactically, we’ve learned some things as a staff and a team, but also the biggest change for me was attitudinal in our locker room and the standard we were going to set and what we discussed all year long. It had nothing to do with 82 games or wins and losses.

“It was a strict focus on what we would need to do to win at the toughest time of the year and we kind of kept that going throughout the course of the season.”

Those comments seem fitting if the Jets are to follow in the footsteps of the Avalanche at some point in the near future.

“It’s definitely a disappointing result. I think with the pieces we added we felt we could play with any team in this league, and with the goaltending we have,” said Jets captain Adam Lowry, who kept both hands in his pockets, clearly hiding an injury that he brushed off when asked about it.

“So it’s going to be a long summer, a disappointing one. This one’s going to sting for a while.”

“So it’s going to be a long summer, a disappointing one. This one’s going to sting for a while.”–Adam Lowry

Bowness was asked how his group is going to ensure it takes the lessons learned from this painful defeat to get better next season.

“Well, we go into next season and you bring this up, how we played last year. We went into camp this year and we talked about how we looked at the end of the year last year. Now you go into training camp and you say, ‘That’s how it’s got to look, starting again from the playoff experience.’ You hope for growth,” said Bowness.

“Listen, this is a proud group and it’s a tight group and they’re hurting right now. That’s not a bad thing. They should hurt. Last year was a different hurt. We didn’t battle. Tonight we battled, so it was a different hurt.

“But you still have to learn, you still have to take that game to another level. You do. Playoffs are a whole different animal. If you can’t raise your game to that intensity, you don’t win the Stanley Cup. You know how hard it is to get there? I’ve been there four times. It’s hard and your players are beat up when you get there.”

As for his own future, Bowness — who has a team option for next season — didn’t answer a direct question about what his intentions are, though he left a few bread crumbs that he is definitely interested in returning for a third campaign if Kevin Cheveldayoff wants him to.

“We just lost in the playoffs. We’ll figure that out,” said Bowness.

He’s clearly invested in the strides this team has taken since he took over in the summer of 2022 and his passion to chase the Stanley Cup clearly remains.

“There’s growth. You’ve got to grow. We took a lot of strides as a group this year,” said Bowness.

“We grew a lot. We did. That’s why we (finished with) 110 points and lead the league in goals against. Now, is there still room for growth? Absolutely. It’s obvious when you compare tonight, to the previous four (games of this series), that, OK, this is what the playoffs are. Now, why it took until the fifth game to get there – we’ll have to answer those questions. But we will. And we’ll grow from it. We grew a lot.”

Note: The Jets will stay home Wednesday but will return to the downtown rink Thursday to clean out their lockers and meet one final time with the media.

 

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X: @WiebesWorld