Aircraft must find targets quickly – Winnipeg Free Press

PHILADELPHIA — They say misery loves company.

That might explain why the Winnipeg Jets suddenly have a shortage of skaters clutching their sticks and snakebite in a depressed mood these days.

Forwards Nino Niederreiter (14 games), Alex Iafallo (12) and Morgan Barron (11) are all on double-digit hitting droughts. Adam Lowry (nine) and Cole Perfetti (eight) are fast approaching, while Nikolaj Ehlers (one goal in seven) and Kyle Connor (one goal in six) have also gone cold.

At least Ellers scored on the keeper. Connor's lone score came in an empty netter on Jan. 16, his first game back after a five-week layoff.

All told, the Jets have scored nine times in their last seven games and are 2-4-1 over that stretch. That includes a 2-0 loss to Philadelphia on Jan. 11, a 1-0 loss to Toronto on Jan. 24 and a 3-0 loss to Pittsburgh in Tuesday's first game after a nine-day layoff.

Don't look now, but Winnipeg's next two games are rematches against a pair of Pennsylvania rivals. The struggling 30-13-5 Central Division team faces the Flyers on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center before hosting the Penguins at the Canadian Life Center on Saturday at 6 p.m.

So where did all the offense go?

To get some answers, we went to the man who still leads the club with 19 goals but has been unable to buy one lately.

“It's just a general fact of how we run our offense. I think we should be more comfortable talking,” Connor said Free press Wednesday following his team's on-ice practice at the Flyers practice facility in Voorhees, New Jersey

As he explained, the Jets need to focus as much on the offensive side of the game as they do in their zone this year, which has done well with the NHL's best defensive numbers.

“We've got to be a lot more crisp,” Connor said. “We have to understand that each line has its own strengths and style of play.”

Head coach Rick Bowness has repeatedly said he wants all four lines to look the same in terms of work ethic, structure and systems. It certainly wasn't part of the plan for the team's brightest stars to suddenly emerge as bottom-six forwards.

Connor has 21 shots in the five games since scoring, which suggests that the dam should burst soon. He had several good looks against Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry on Tuesday, but couldn't convert. It was his fourth game of the year in a lineup with Mark Scheifele and Gabe Vilardi, who have battled injury issues.

“I think we have enough to score a couple of goals. You keep doing the right things over and over again, and you get rewarded more and more,” said Connor, who had six of his team's 23 hits.

A strong start will certainly help the cause, as Winnipeg has gone 34-for-2 in its last 10 games. A new-look lineup featuring Connor, Scheifele, Vilardi, Sean Monahan (making his Jets debut) and Josh Morrissey went 0-for-2 against the Penguins, but showed some promise in a very small sample size.

Not surprisingly, special teams work was the focus of Wednesday's skate.

“You can't be (one-dimensional). There are things we can control. Your work ethic, how you rebound the puck, regional records, everything has to be clear. At the end of the day, you have to make plays,” Connor said.

“I look forward to us taking the next step.”

As a veteran of 858 games and counting, Niederreiter knows there are ups and downs when it comes to production. The 12-goal scorer since Dec. 30 — he scored twice that day against the Minnesota Wild — said this latest slump is as frustrating as any on an individual level.

“I want it to change,” she said. “It still is. It's the same now as when it starts in the league and you don't score, it's obviously going to be frustrating. You play mind games with yourself and try to overthink things. You can't believe your shot and all that. This doesn't change if you get older and sign a long-term contract. You're right there and you want to score, produce, and do whatever it takes to win. Overthinking is the hardest part.”

So how do you get over this little crisis of confidence?

“We know we have to find a way to create more net presence and score more goals,” said Niederreiter, who lives in blue. “We have to keep hitting the puck and keep shooting. Try to do some crazy stretches before. This is what we know we need to do to create more fat targets.”

Bowness is not ready to hit the panic button because he believes his club will get out of this situation quickly. However, he admitted that if things go wrong, some adjustments may be made to the current lines.

One potential move would be to replace Connor and Ehlers. It joins the trio of Scheifele, Vilardi and Ehler, which has been effective for a long time, only to disband after Connor returned to the lineup last month. Ehlers is currently skating with Perfetti and Monahan.

Niederreiter is also involved in the bottom six, skating with Lowry and Mason Appleton, and Tuesday's freshman fourth line of Iafallo, Barron and Vlad Namestnikov got a good showing for the first time.

In terms of added depth, the Jets currently have Rasmus Cupari and Dominic Toninato as extra forwards, while David Gustafsson is currently on injured reserve but close to returning. You had to go to the list to activate it.

The Jets got some good news on Wednesday as Axel Jonsson-Fjallby cleared waivers. The speedy 25-year-old Swede, who has five points (two goals, three assists) in 26 games with the Jets this year, will now join the Manitoba Moose to bide his time as potential injury insurance for the big club.

[email protected]

X: mikemcintyrewpg

Mike McIntyre
Sports reporter

Mike McIntyre grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler. But when this dream failed, he tried his best to become a professional writer.

Read full bio