FRIESEN: Eyes on the playoffs: Jets' needle pointing up

Sometimes it’s good to hear the view from the other room.

Article content

So let’s start today’s ramblings on the Winnipeg Jets with some thoughts from the Washington Capitals, who must have left the downtown rink late Monday night feeling like that unsuspecting driver on Kenaston Boulevard who had no idea what potholes were coming.

Article content

The first matchup between the teams this season left loose parts hanging from the visitors, one of the few times you’ll see a 3-0 score actually flatter the losers.

Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery seemed to be impressed with what he’d just seen.

“They had the puck for 75% of the game,” Carbery said. “Right from the start… standing there watching, it was just bigger, faster, stronger. Every facet. You’ve got to tip your cap. That’s a really good team that just got better with (trades). And they were just way quicker than us. Everywhere.”

Article content

Article content

Carbery had just seen the Jets roll up 68 shot attempts, five-on-five, compared to 43 for his team.

The home side wasn’t all that accurate – just 29 hit the net – but in the battle for possession and zone time, it wasn’t even close.

“They came out of the gates hot,” Caps leading scorer Dylan Strome said. “They came out flying. They were all over us. I don’t think we managed that pressure too well. It looked like we were panicking to just get the puck out of the zone… and they were just continually putting it back down our throats.”

These teams aren’t on the same plane, that much is obvious.

One is going into the playoffs as a threat, adding horsepower at the trade deadline, while the other sold off parts and is likely to park itself for the summer in a few weeks.

Article content

Saturday’s game in Vancouver should have been a truer measurement of the Jets. Two of the best in the West, and the Canucks looked vastly superior in a 5-0 laugher.

Head coach Rick Bowness had called it the worst game his team has played in his two seasons in Winnipeg, comments that had some recalling last year’s meek playoff exit and the ensuing fallout.

So Monday was supposed to be the big response.

Not everybody, though, was buying the narrative that Saturday’s game might have hinted at a fatal flaw of some kind, or that it was even that big of a deal.

“Throughout the season, there is always one or two of those games,” is how captain Adam Lowry put it. “I wouldn’t read too much into it.”

Ditto Kyle Connor.

“Hey, we’re going to have bad nights here,” Connor said. “It’s not perfect all the time. That’s on us, as players. At the end of the day, you can’t focus too much on that. Yeah, you can learn from it. But at the same time, we’re going to lose games in the playoffs.

Article content

“Everything we do now is preparing for that – how we respond, how we regroup – and the biggest thing, we stuck together. We had each other’s backs coming in.”

That hasn’t always been the case. And when individualism trumps teamwork, you get what happened at the end of last season.

The Jets have 18 regular-season games left to, as Connor said, steel themselves for the real test, starting in April.

Monday’s bounce-back doesn’t prove any more than Saturday’s no-show proved.

This team’s body of work over this next month, though, should give us a good sense of where things stand.

The needle should be pointing up, in part because of the wheeling and dealing by GM Kevin Cheveldayoff.

In the fairy-tale version of the story, Tyler Toffoli would have scored the game-winning goal against Washington with an assist from Colin Miller.

Article content

The Jets happily settled for what they got from the two former New Jersey Devils playing their first game in their new colours.

Toffoli, playing on the second line with Sean Monahan at centre and Alex Iafallo on the other wing, was a threat to score all night.

Smart, in the right place at the right time and quick with his release, he looks like an ideal acquisition.

“A huge addition,” Monahan called him. “Chemistry starts to grow the more touches you get and making reads off each other. There’s a lot of room to improve and I’m looking forward to doing that.”

Recommended from Editorial

Reversing the goose-egg: Jets rebound with blanking of Caps

New Jets sniper Tyler Toffoli ‘feeling really comfortable’ in new surroundings

We’re reminded of Monahan’s own addition, a little more than a month ago, when he got his first goal in his fifth game as a Jet and never looked back.

Article content

“If we look at how big of an impact Sean has had on our team, we’re expecting big things from those two other guys, too,” Lowry said. “Big shoes to fill, but I expect they’ll be able do it.”

Miller fit right in, too, paired with Dylan Samberg on the blue line.

The trade deadline is like hitting the re-set button one last time before the post-season, the distractions gone, the focus ramping up.

From here on, it’s a hunt for chemistry and a final identity.

“It’s all about making sure we’re ready come playoff time,” Lowry said. “That we can hit that first round at the top of our game.”

It’s playing Monday’s style of game against much better teams.

Because that’s what’s coming.

[email protected] X: @friesensunmedia

Article content