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The Jets Day After: (Bad) Weekend Review
Photo credit: © Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 24, 2020, 13:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 24, 2020, 12:03 EST
After this weekend I am having a hard time deciding what was more face-palm worthy / angering / disappointing when it comes to the @Winnipeg Jets. There are more than a few things to pick from…
- Falling behind 0-1 in both games which continues a trend that we’ve seen most of this season. The Flyers got the jump on them two minutes into the game on Saturday and then added a second goal seven minutes after that first goal. The Jets were not as generous on Sunday in Buffalo. but they still trailed 0-1 before they got to the halfway point of the first period.
- The pathetic third periods when both games were on the line. The Jets were out-shot 14-4 in the third against the Flyers which is awful, and yet somehow the Jets topped themselves 24 hours later where they out-shot the Sabres 9-8 but didn’t manage an actual shot on Buffalo’s goal in the final nine minutes of the period.
- @Blake Wheeler taking three very lazy stick penalties… One bad hooking penalty in the neutral zone late in the third to kill any chance for the Jets to come back, and then doubling down the next day with two very needless penalties in the first and then second period. Nice leading Captain!
- Paul Maurice’s laughable reasoning as to why @Sami Niku didn’t draw in on Sunday, suggesting that he would have if it was a Saturday, but since it was a Sunday then @Anthony Bitetto made the lineup cut… It would actually be somewhat believable if we don’t have a full season of Maurice putting Bitetto in the lineup over Niku.
- Paul Maurice also calling out (but not really, but he did) @Nikolaj Ehlers in his reasoning for putting Ehlers on the third line.
- The Jets losing to @Jonas Johansson. It was Jonas’ first NHL win after two previous starts where he posted sub .900 save percentages, and of course the Jets (when they did shoot the puck) made him look like a rock star as he posted a .962 save percentage.
Going into the weekend and after their win against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, the Jets held down the top Wild Card spot and there was plenty of optimism. Two games later against to very tough but beatable Eastern Conference clubs, they have two losses and now sit a point outside of the last playoff spot.
If there is but one positive to come out of this entire weekend, it’s the play of @Jansen Harkins who has played well over the last two weeks and on Sunday slid into the Ehlers spot in the top line with Wheeler and @Mark Scheifele and looked pretty good. Hate that it came at the expense of Ehlers and hate that the complements he got from Maurice seemed to be used to contrast PoMo’s previously noted criticism of Ehlers, but he is doing what a good majority of the Jets should be doing right now… Skating hard and rushing the net with the puck almost every chance he gets.
But beyond Harkins, any good feelings we had after the @Dylan DeMelo trade and the playoff spot, have evaporated… As was evidenced by some of the replies Jets Nation sent after the game on Sunday:
I think one of the biggest frustrations – especially on Sunday – was the lack of urgency displayed by the Jets. For a team in the middle of a playoff race and that has talked repeatedly about making a run at the playoffs, it was such a lethargic game from the Jets… Did playing the second half of a back to back play a factor for both teams? Sure, but that’s not much of an excuse this time of year and if they can’t muster energy against the 12th place in the East club, what hope do they have against higher quality clubs?
Speaking of that…
Remember the 2013 season and the good old days of the southeast division. The Jets were fighting for a playoff spot only to lose back to backs to the capitals and it was basically season over at that point. Cant help but think the same thing is going to happen this week.
Oh crap…
It’s crazy that it might come down to the up coming home and home series against the @Washington Capitals (a Caps team that by the way has loaded up with @Brendan Dillon and @Ilya Kovalchuk) but the Jets have wasted the last few weeks worth of games against non-playoff sitting clubs – “haymaking season” as The Athletic’s Murat Ates has aptly put it – and now four of the next five games are against teams near the top of their divisions. Two against the Caps and then one each against the @Edmonton Oilers and @Vegas Golden Knights.
And in the middle of all that is the Buffalo Sabres. The very same Sabres who seem to be motivated to at least close out the season strong and that the Jets looked pathetic against on Sunday.
Yikes.
If this team adds in the deadline tomorrow I'm gonna be pissed. This is NOT a Playoff team! Prepare for next season, which sadly will probably be more of the same
At this point, as much as it would pain me to see it happen, I wouldn’t mind seeing both Niku and Ehlers traded because it sure feels like the Jets have a head coach that has no idea how to handle them or get the most out of their talent.