As the final whistle sounded on Sunday afternoon, the Winnipeg Jets fell 5-3 to the Buffalo Sabres, opening their four-game homestand with a disappointing loss to a non playoff club. Mark Scheifele’s goal drought has now stretched to eight games, and oh boy, he’s shown signs of struggling recently.

To be fair, Scheifele hasn’t been entirely unproductive, registering five assists during this stretch. But something seems off.

He took two penalties against Buffalo—one for tripping Connor Clifton in the opening frame and another for tripping Alex Tuch in the third, which led to fellow Manitoban Tyson Kozak extending Buffalo’s lead to 3-1.

Jets head bench boss Scott Arniel attributed Scheifele’s struggles to bad luck. “Scheif had a couple of almost empty netters that hit a stick, a blade, or whatever,” Arniel said after the game.

However, a deeper dive into Scheifele’s recent play shows a noticeable dip in aggressiveness. Compared to the first 63 games of the season, where he consistently drove to the net, the Kitchener native has been more passive over the last eight games. A prime example came against Buffalo when Scheifele opted to peel back and look for a pass rather than drive hard to the goal. One possible explanation for this change in approach might be the stellar play of Sabres goaltender James Reimer, who was rock-solid against all shots that weren’t generated from high-danger areas. This may have led Scheifele to focus more on setting up wingers Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi rather than taking shots himself.

Scheifele’s high-danger scoring chances during 5-on-5 play have dropped to 0.75 per game during this drought, compared to 1.11 through the first 63 games. Despite this slump, the first-line center has still put up 35 goals and 77 points this season while maintaining a +10 rating. His last goal came on March 6th in a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Scheifele will have a chance to get back on track on Tuesday as Alex Ovechkin and the first place Washington Capitals come to Canada Life Centre. Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. and the game will be available to watch on TSN3.