Big Ups & Let Downs: We’re Not Mad, Just Disappointed

There is no gentle way of saying it, Winnipeg was truly disappointing on Wednesday night. Sure there was some doubt that they’d get a positive result, but there was hope that everything would line up in the universe and that we’d all celebrate a hard earned win. Alas, it was not to be.

But enough about the Portage & Main election result. Let’s talk about last night’s game which to was disappointing.

The feeling I had after that game was not unlike that of a parent who had the highest of hopes for their child only to be disappointed. I still love the Jets, but the entire game – and more to the point the lack of effort in the first two periods was so disappointing on a stage such as the Jets had on Wednesday night.

I get maybe looking a big past the St. Louis Blues on a Monday night and having to scramble in the third period to win a game. I even understand getting up 4-1 on the lowly Oilers and then taking the foot completely off the gas pedal even as Connor McDavid is flying around the ice and leading his team to a come back win. These things can happen. They shouldn’t, but they can and typically do to every team at some point in a season.

But man, this one stings a bit. It’s the *other* “best team in Canada” from the biggest city in the country on not only just a national stage in Canada, but the eyes of hockey fans in the US watching as well. It’s a night and a focus the Jets clearly earned by virtue of their efforts last season and promise of what could be this season and should have been more vindication of all of that in a classic showdown against a team that had been reeling a bit and struggling with offense…

And the Jets laid an egg.

Actually, scratch that. That would imply they worked hard at some point to actually produce an egg.

Maybe that’s a bit harsh, but after Monday’s little scare where the motto seemed to be #WhyPlayThreePeriodsWhenYouCanPlayOne (shout out to our friends at Arctic Ice Hockey for the clumsy, yet succinct hashtag) one would have thought the Jets would come out with some pace and urgency to their play but it just wasn’t there.

They were better in the third period, but was that the real Jets, or was that score effects from a 3-0 game in favor of the road team with 20 minutes left to play? I’m hopeful it’s the former, but based on the last two games we’ve seen I’m thinking right now it’s the latter.

I don’t want to say this loss was on Connor Hellebuyck. There are plenty of other issues the Jets have right now that were bigger contributors to the final result. Hellebuyck did well enough to at least try to keep the Jets in the game through the first 20 minutes where the Leafs maybe had earned two or three more goals than they had if not for Connor’s work in net.

Still though an .897 save percentage isn’t good for an NHL starter let alone a Vezina hopeful and the two goals given up in the second period were likely two that would have made for fine, potential game changing saves. He saved the Jets from falling behind by a lot early on, but he still wasn’t at his best.

He doesn’t look fully settled in the net and appeared to be struggling with his positioning at times. Wither that’s him in his own head, or him not trusting the defense in front of him (which is very likely) Jets fans better hope that part of his game gets sorted out soon.

Paul Maurice clearly doesn’t trust this line and more to the point these two, which has me wondering why they are even playing right now.

You can’t go an entire season leaning on your top line and/or players for 25 minutes a night which is what Maurice is doing right now with Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele.

Maurice gave Roslovic and Lemieux about five or six shifts through the first two periods of the game including two very short 17 second shifts in the third period before they were on the ice when the Leafs scored their fourth goal which ended up being the one that iced any thoughts of a comeback.

And yes Roslovic and Lemieux blew assignments on that play, but it’s asking a lot of a player to play all of four minutes in the first two hours of a game and then throw them on for a shift against the Leafs top line and hope they hold whatever momentum your team has. Maurice is setting his players up for failure at that point and the only other question I have beyond “why are they even playing if they’re just going to get five minutes of ice time” is “why would you put them in a critical spot in the final 20 minutes of a game when you didn’t obviously trust them in the first 40 minutes of it?”

Finally. A goal. Maybe he can stop pressing so hard now and get back to playing his normal game where he uses speed to open up the ice and create chances for him and linemates.