Morrissey’s words speak volumes

A one-word response: “Terrible.” And then silence.

The normally chatty Josh Morrissey was direct and to the point when asked to describe how he was feeling, mere moments after his Winnipeg Jets just had their dream of a Stanley Cup championship crushed in swift, stunning fashion.

Speaking in hushed tones, his voice cracking a times, the pain was palpable as the alterate captain held court with the media late Tuesday night inside the otherwise empty Jets room.

You could tell this playoff exit, more than some of the others in the past, would leave a sizeable emotional scar.

“Another year that feels like a missed opportunity,” Morrissey added.

Through no fault of his own, to be clear. The 29-year-old left it all on the ice and was, unquestionably, the best player on his team in this series. Unfortunately for the Jets, it wasn’t nearly enough.

“Oh, we brought our best game in the series but obviously at this point…,” Morrissey said, pausing to collect himself after a fourth straight loss means a longer-than-expected off-season.

“We were a desperate team. We just didn’t get to our game soon enough in the series. That’s the way I see it. I’m proud of the way the guys competed, but nothing to show for it.”

The NHL’s best defensive team in the regular season, which held opponents to a total of 199 goals through 82-regular season games, was absolutely torched for 28 goals (four into empty nets) in five games by the Colorado Avalanche, who led the league in scoring.

The visitors posted a 6-3 triumph to oust the Jets from the playoffs.

Morrissey, like all of his teammates and coaches, had no explanation.

“You know it’s all just settling in right now to be honest with you,” said Morrissey.

“You work all year to give yourself an opportunity. We had a great regular season and out in five it’s pretty disappointing. Not really gonna get in any depth answers right now, but disappointment is there and it’s frustrating.”

The Jets steered clear of the rink Wednesday but will return Thursday to clean out their lockers and meet one final time with the media.

Indeed, after tying a franchise record with 52 wins this season, the Jets managed just one — in the opening game of the series — before crashing and burning.

Yes, they threw everything they could at Colorado on Tuesday, including the third goal of the series by Morrissey, which tied Kyle Connor for most on the team.

Their best — if that’s what this was — still couldn’t come close to getting the job done.

”We were a desperate team. We just didn’t get to our game soon enough in the series.”–Josh Morrissey

“I don’t know. I wish I had the answer to that. I think execution,” Morrissey said, in trying to pinpoint areas they fell short.

“You know, when I watch that series, they were faster most of the games. They were aggressive, that was clearly their game plan. It’s disappointing. There is going to be a time of reflection, where there always is, which sucks. But, we need to figure out a way to all get better this off-season because we just saw what it looks like to play against a team that knows how to win.”

That’s where the chat with Morrissey took a most interesting turn, as he seemed to get worked up and essentially challenged everyone on the roster — himself included — to do more than just mope and sulk over what could have been.

“We win as a team we lose as a team and we all need to look internally this summer and find ways that we can get better,” said Morrissey.

“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. But we need to we need to take the lessons from what they did out there because they were the better hockey team and we need to find a way to get to that level.”

Spoken like a true leader.

Morrissey was asked about Colorado coach Jared Bednar’s comments earlier in the series about “scar tissue” from previous playoff disappointments his group had prior to winning the Stanley Cup in 2022. Do teams sometimes have to take a step back before they can take the ultimate step forward?

“Well, clearly they felt that way and they did something about it in the off-season to raise their game as individuals, to raise their game for playoff time,” said Morrissey.

“Right now, it’s just disappointing and frustrating. It feels like a missed opportunity. But, the only way that there is any good from this is that we learn from it and we actually look at how we can improve as individuals and as a group. Because, they brought that Stanley Cup-winning class to this series, and we didn’t return it for three or four of those games. We have levels that we need to find this off-season. I hope it stings for all of us into the summer and we use it as motivation.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg