After third straight loss, Jets must find sense of urgency to get back in division race

WINNIPEG — Slip, sliding away.

As the Winnipeg Jets' recent stumble is threatening to turn into a free-fall, the message track was tilted heavily toward the picking up the pieces element, rather than focusing on dropping three in a row and five of the past six games.

The Jets wrapped up a second decisive four-goal defeat in as many game. On Sunday, Winnipeg were blanked 4-0 by the New York Islanders — who have knocked Winnipeg off twice during the past five days — two days after head coach Rick Bowness publicly called for a response.

Well, what to make of a first period that saw the Jets outshot by a 12-1 margin and go nearly 19 minutes between recording shots on goal?

If you were expecting fire and brimstone, prepare to be disappointed.

Bowness talked about liking the energy his team came out with, but the effort level was quickly derailed by a penalty. Soon after, the Jets looked like a team that was looking for a perfect play far too often.

“Yeah, we were a much better team today than we were last game. Much better,” said Bowness. “I know what the score says. I get that. We didn't score a goal, and I understand that. There's no results, and I understand that. We're results-oriented. You have to win. You have to score. But at least the effort was much better today.”

Effort is normally a bare necessity, something a team like the Jets should be able to count on.

“It just wasn’t good enough,” said Jets alternate captain Josh Morrissey. “We need to be better in the first periods, we need to be better off the start, and we can’t be a fragile team right now. I'm not saying that we are, but we certainly can’t fall into that mode.

“We’re an aggressive team. We have to be able to make plays, make passes and not just panic because we’re going through a little bit of a rut. I thought we got better at that throughout the game, so although it’s a tough loss on the scoreboard there were a lot of things that we did well in the second and third, things that we’re going to try and build off. I mean, there’s no use being negative this time of year.”

You can understand the importance of looking for a silver lining, but the bottom line is that this group must find the necessary urgency level to elevate its respective play.

Right now, they haven’t been good enough and their place in the Western Conference standings is beginning to reflect that.

By dropping to 35-24-1, the Jets fell out of the comfy perch of being in the top-3 in the Central Division — which comes with an automatic playoff berth — and slipped into a wild card spot.

The ninth-placed Calgary Flames are knocking on the door, just five points behind.

But the standings can be a concern for another day.

The Jets sole priority must get their collective house in order, first and foremost.

It’s far too early to start worrying about needing help from other teams. It’s time to take matters into their own hands.

“Yeah, I think the more adversity you go through, if you can figure it out, the stronger you get. So for us right now, the answer is in here,” said Dubois. “We can’t wait for other teams to start losing. Can’t hope for other teams to start losing. Every other playoff race you see it. 

“You look at the standings and you don’t want to be the team that’s hoping that the other team loses. You want to be able to build your game and get ready for the postseason. For guys in here, we’ve all been through a lot in our careers. Coaching staff included. So we can figure it out in here.”

With both the primary and secondary scoring drying up during a stretch where the team has gone 6-10 and scored just 33 goals (the 34th was a shootout goal).

When a team is scoring at a click of just over two goals per game, they put an awful lot of pressure on the men behind the mask who are manning the crease.

Bowness made the choice to start backup David Rittich, noting that it was a non-conference game. Connor Hellebuyck can’t play every night and that there’s a back-to-back with the Edmonton Oilers on the horizon.

Rittich is having a mostly solid season, but he gave up a softie to Kent Johnson for the game-winner in a 2-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets last Wednesday. The long wrister he also allowed to Islanders centre Bo Horvat at 7:56 of the opening frame let the air out of the balloon for Winnipeg.

Try as they might, the Jets weren’t able to pick up the slack and by the time Brock Nelson caught Rittich leaning, it was 3-0 and the game was essentially out of reach given the recent lack of offensive production.

The Jets started the process of addressing that need on Saturday afternoon by acquiring winger Nino Niederreiter from the Nashville Predators. He’s expected to be on the ice with his new teammates on Monday and should make his debut on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Kings.

“He’s a great player. He’s hard to play against. He can play offence and defence. Shoot the puck. Big guy,” said Dubois. “I have not enjoyed playing against him throughout my career. Being able to play with him will be really fun and comes at a perfect time where, you know, it can be a big boost for this team.”

Niederreiter will either find himself alongside Mark Scheifele or Dubois and it’s clear that the Jets could use another player with a track record of producing goals that is no stranger to getting to the blue paint and disrupting things on the forecheck.

“I’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of hits from him on the forecheck. He’s just a guy around the net who just always seems to be there and boxes you out offensively. He gets those goals around the net with good hands,” said Morrissey, who was also asked a question about what type of message a move like this from GM Kevin Cheveldayoff sends to the group. “Clearly, he’s making additions and not subtractions, so that’s a statement right there. Teams go through funks; we’re going through it right now. We haven’t loved our game for a little while, but we’re still in a decent position.

“It’s a great time of the year to find your game and find your peak performance in this last stretch, to get into the playoffs and then let that roll. We are going to keep working here and it’s nice that that organization has the faith in us to make some additions at the deadline.”

Perhaps there will be more moves to come, but right now the Jets need to look themselves in the mirror as they try to find a way to get back on track. Not wait for the calvary to come and save the day.

“I’ve seen signs that we can handle it better. You learn more about your guys now,” said Bowness. “They learn more about themselves. Right now it’s a challenge, there’s no question. So, what do you do? You dig down deeper, that’s what you do. And the guys that don’t dig down deeper, then you find out about that, too.”

The Jets should find out a great deal about this group during the final 22 games of the season and beyond.

What they learn could go a long way when it comes to how they proceed moving forward.

“Obviously you want to consistently have your game all season but that’s not the case. We’re going though it a little bit right now. Every team does,” said Morrissey. “I think in a lot of ways we can turn this into a positive at this time of the year, if we can find a way to get out of this little funk and get to our game. It’s a perfect time to come out of a tough streak and get into a good one to make a push for the playoffs and into the postseason.

“We’re confident in our locker room. We need to stay positive and not let all the outside noise and question marks and everything else affect us.”