WINNIPEG — It seems unfair but also necessary to ask more of Adam Lowry.
He put the Jets on his back in Game 1 of this series, scored two goals to give them a final lead they never relinquished, had a team-leading six hits, took a game-high 19 faceoffs, served a primary penalty-killing role, and spent the majority of his even-strength ice-time trying to shut down the best player in the world, and he deserves all the credit in the world for how he handled most of it.
It’s reasonable to ask: What more can Lowry do?
But it’s also reasonable to expect him to do more because he’s capable of doing more, and because he expects it of himself.
“That’s our captain, man,” said Brendan Dillon after Sunday’s 7-6 win. “He’s a gamer.”
Knowing that is knowing Lowry didn’t go home patting himself on the back for his two individual efforts for crucial goals after he was on the ice for twice as many goals against. The six-foot-five, 211-pound forward probably began thinking right then and there about how can make an even bigger impact in Game 2 to help the Jets assert the style that enabled them to win 52 games in the regular season.
Lowry knows he’ll have to do exactly that — with the help of linemates Nino Niederreiter and Mason Appleton — for the Jets to carry a 2-0 series lead with them to Mile High City on Wednesday.
“The offence was nice. Anytime you can get some against those guys, it’s great,” he said after Game 1. “But what we gave up — I think we spent a lot of time in our end, and we gave some up off the rush … We want to spend a little more time in their zone, wear them down in the cycle. I think there’s going to be some tweaks. Maybe at some times in the game we were a little tentative; we were trying to be so cautious that we were over top, that we were light on the forecheck. And anytime you’re light on the forecheck, you allow some easy outlet passes, and that’s where their speed can really hurt you.
“Just some quicker reads is kind of where our line will look to be a little better in Game 2.”
The Jets, as a whole, have many more adjustments to make.
They can’t repeat the same mistakes that led to 46 shots against and many more scoring chances than the Avalanche ultimately capitalized on.
They fed most of the offence the Avalanche generated in Game 1 by not moving the puck quickly enough. And as coach Rick Bowness pointed out on Monday, the Jets didn’t support the puck well enough to move it as fast as they typically do.
Those are things that must change from opening faceoff to closing buzzer in Game 2.
Another area of emphasis will be not allowing the Avalanche to gather as much momentum up ice and into Winnipeg’s zone.
“It’s their entries,” said Bowness. “They got in way too easy, and we didn’t pick up that second wave of defenemen coming up. They were able to get in, and it wasn’t one and done. Sometimes those rushes are one and done, we get the puck and go. It was a rush, a chance, and we were scrambling too much. We didn’t end enough plays. We didn’t get the puck after that first initial chance.
“Then it’s up to us to battle harder to get that puck, get it going north and get it going the other way. We didn’t do that well enough last night.”
All of that is typically what Lowry’s line executes better than any other on the Jets, enabling him to drive it to a 57 per cent share of the expected goals despite starting 64 per cent of its shifts outside the offensive zone during the regular season.
It may not be reasonable to expect Lowry to do as well while having to lead the effort in shutting down MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Zach Parise, but it’s not beyond reason to expect him to drive a much better result than the one that saw him and his linemates account for just 29 per cent of the expected goals when they were on the ice at five-on-five in Game 1.
The Jets know he’ll do it.
“I think he’s just a guy who’s been so dialed in his career, and he’s just been getting better and better and better and just realizes how important his role is and plays his role to a tee,” said goalie Connor Hellebuyck on Monday. “I don’t think there’s many guys out there that do such a job like that and are so OK with being perfect in their role, if that makes sense. Because I believe that he knows his role and he strives to be perfect in it.”
It is Lowry’s unwavering pursuit of perfection that has made him such a dependable player in this league and a player the Jets depend on so heavily.
He has been at the heart of their success to this point of the season. And even if he was a big part of their Game 1 win over the Avalanche, you expect him to be an even more central figure in Game 2.
“He’s been a great leader for the team on and off the ice. He was a great choice for captain,” said Bowness. “He loves these challenges. He’s going up against one of the best players in the world, not necessarily the league but the world in Nate. So, he loves those challenges and he takes his game to another level.”
