Stars put stop to Jets’ rally

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This article was published 11/11/2023 (907 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This was a lesson in patience — or in having your team’s collective patience tested — if you will.

This wasn’t a poorly played game for the Winnipeg Jets, nor did they fail to measure up in this early season measuring stick game against the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars.

But the Jets still fell just short.

Yes, there were a couple of special teams issues that needed to be cleaned up, but the Jets won the even-strength battle, scoring twice against a team that is among the stingiest in the NHL.

As great a job as the Jets have done of late in losing just one of the previous nine games in regulation (going 7-0-2), they slipped out of their defensive structure on a couple of occasions and those proved to be costly in a 3-2 loss on Saturday afternoon before 12,420 fans at Canada Life Centre.

“Credit to Dallas. We knew they’re a veteran team. They’re not going to give you much,” said Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon. “I think the first two periods we were just trying to kind of go outside of what’s made us successful for the last couple games. We have scored some highlight reel goals, but they take away the middle, they try to force turnovers.

“In the third period we were more direct, using our strength which is our speed, getting in on the forecheck and turning it over. And then getting that next play. When we try to get too cute sometimes against these good veteran teams, they’ll take advantage of it.”

The Jets finished this stretch of four consecutive games against Central Division opponents with a record of 3-1 and they’ll continue a five-game homestand on Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils.

With the win, the Stars improved to 9-3-1 on the season and extended their lead over the Jets (7-5-2) in the standings to three points, while holding a game in hand that will be used up when they face the Wild in Minnesota Sunday.

“There’s three examples now,” said Jets associate coach Scott Arniel. “L.A. when they came in here, us going into Vegas and Vegas in our building and then (today). Those are three veteran teams that aren’t going to get into a track meet and aren’t going to let you play your style of play.

“They’re just going to wait on you and they’re going to stay in front of you, they’re going to stay above you, they’re going to protect the guts of the ice and that’s a good lesson for us to learn because we’ve been facing a lot of these young teams that have been running and gunning and we’ve done a good job of playing that way against them, of making them make mistakes.

“Well, these veteran teams are a little bit longer in the tooth at it, they’ve been doing it a little bit longer and that’s a lesson for us to learn, in how we’re going to win those types of games. When they get like that, they get bogged down and they get slow and they get ugly, you’ve just got to stay with it. You can’t try to force the game.”

Let’s take a little closer look under the hood of this game:

THE SPECIAL TEAMS STRUGGLES: Winnipeg’s power play has been much improved, scoring in four consecutive games and notching five markers to see a significant increase in productivity. However, the Jets went 0-for-3 with the man-advantage against the Stars penalty-killers, which are ranked No. 1 in the NHL.

They allowed a short-handed marker to Wyatt Johnston and then Johnston set up Matt Duchene with a beautiful backhand pass for a power-play goal that came with one second remaining in a tripping minor to Dillon. As pretty as the pass was, there were four Jets in close proximity to Duchene and none of them tied up his stick.

“Obviously don’t let that pass get out (from behind the Jets net). We’ve got two guys out in front of the net that should be able to get a stick on Duchene,” said Arniel. “We were right down to the end of it. We had done a pretty good job. Like I said last week: it’s the guts of the ice. The puck’s going to end up there sooner or later.” Once the Jets do a better job of protecting the guts of the ice, the penalty kill efficiency should be on the rise.

THE QUICK IDENTIFICATION: Jets forward Cole Perfetti was swarmed by Stars captain Jamie Benn and Johnston and ultimately had his pocket picked before Johnston walked in and beat Connor Hellebuyck with a wrister. Perfetti calmly explained his view of how things transpired in real time and offered a suggestion for how he might play it, should a similar circumstance present itself.

“They played it well. I got it on the wall and two guys came at me. You never want to just give the puck away or shoot it away,” said Perfetti. “Obviously, in hindsight, you’d probably just rip it back to no one and hopefully just regroup. You don’t know that. You never want to just shoot the puck away blindly on the power play, you want to control the puck. So I was just wanting to make a play and I had two guys on me. They made a nice play. Mistakes happen and they obviously capitalized on that chance. In hindsight, I’d do things different. But it was a tough read at that speed with two guys coming on, I didn’t just want to give it away.”

It was a sound explanation from Perfetti and as Arniel pointed out in his post-game presser, there were a few breakdowns that occurred on the play itself.

“Yeah, that’s a tough play. Maybe we don’t throw that up to him right away. Maybe we hold onto it at the back of the net, kind of let them swing out,” said Arniel. “We have to support the puck, too. We had one guy against two of theirs and we were probably looking to get on the offence instead of making sure we corralled that puck. Those are situations that, if you’re not all on the same page on it, it comes back and bites you like it did.”

THE HOT STREAK: Perfetti did a lot of great things in the game and had several of the Jets best scoring chances, including a backhand shot on a breakaway that Stars goalie Scott Wedgewood got a piece of before it caught a piece of the crossbar and went out of play.

Perfetti finally solved Wedgewood at 8:28 of the second period, getting the Jets on the board with a rebound goal that allowed him to extend his point streak to six games. It also gave Perfetti nine points during his past nine games and 11 points in 14 games on the season to leave him fourth on the Jets in scoring.

“(Perfetti) is just great, a huge part of our team. The organization really,” said Dillon. “He’s learning and getting better every day. He’s adding. He’s just so smart and always knows where to go. He just creates so much room for himself. That line, they have so much skill. (Perfetti) knows where to go to those right areas, and he’s making them count. He’s a great kid. You root for those guys to have success. It’s nice to see him put the puck in the net.”

What has led to the boost in production?

“I’m just feeling more comfortable,” said Perfetti. “Obviously, as a line, I think we are creating lots and I think we have been creating since the week we got together. When you create that much, the points are going to come, the chances are going to come and the puck is going to go in the net. We had a lot of odd-man rushes and created a lot of quality offensive chances for us. We just need to keep playing hard, gelling together and keep getting better as a line. If we do that as a line, I think those chances are just going to keep going up and up and we’ll get more pucks in the back of the net.”

Perfetti isn’t just being asked to provide secondary scoring, he’s been a consistent performer and you get the sense that he’s just scratching the surface when it comes to what type of player he’s going to grow into.

THE HOT STREAK II: After going 31 games without a goal dating back to last season, Dillon is on a serious heater, notching four goals in four games. Saturday’s goal was a seeing-eye wrister that found the back of the net, thanks in part to Alex Iafallo causing some chaos in front.

What has been the key to this offensive explosion?

“I keep telling the forwards I’m open,” Dillon joked. “It’s nice to contribute for sure. It was a big time in the third period there. I thought we were getting momentum, we played a great third period there. It would have been nice to get another one and make it a really big goal.”

As happy as Dillon is to find the scoresheet with a bit more regularity, he’s not about to start cutting corners to try and rack up more points. “I know my role, I know what makes me successful and being strong defensively, but at the same time it’s nice to score,” said Dillon.

The Jets have made it clear they need production from the defence corps and they continue to do their part on that front.

“Well, I’ve talked, right from the beginning, that obviously everybody is involved in defending,” said Arniel. “Everybody is involved in breakouts and coming out of our end.

“You don’t want to be a liability when we get in the offensive end. We have some ideas and plans and things that we want to do when we have the puck. When it comes to you, you can’t stall the offence. You can’t just pass it back to the half wall. You can’t just throw it back in the corner. That’s one area that all of (the D-men) have been doing a good job.”

THE GOALIE BATTLE: Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck was back in goal to make his 11th start of the season and he finished with 27 saves. Hellebuyck made the initial save off a shot by Ryan Suter on the Stars first goal from Thomas Harley. Hellebuyck was unable to get reset and Harley beat him with a good shot. Hellebuyck’s workload has been heavy in the early stages of the campaign and he’s yet to fully find his groove.

Never mind the boxcar stats (2.98 goals-against average and .892 save percentage), the underlying numbers haven’t been much better as he sat 52^nd in the NHL in goals saved above expected going into Sunday’s action, according to Money Puck. Hellebuyck hasn’t looked as locked in as normal. History would suggest that Hellebuyck is going to find his way and once that happens, the Jets will become even more dangerous, especially in these showdowns with some of the top teams in the NHL.

The Jets caught a bit of a break when the Stars saved starter Jake Oettinger for Sunday’s game against the Wild, but Wedgewood stood tall, finishing with 31 saves, including a beautiful toe stop off Vladislav Namestnikov after a nice setup from Morgan Barron when the Jets were short-handed and looking for the equalizer.

EXTRA, EXTRA: The Jets only change to the lineup was in goal, meaning that once again the healthy scratches were defencemen Logan Stanley and Declan Chisholm. Stanley has only appeared in one of the 14 games this season, while Chisholm has yet to play.

The Jets are expected to send Chisholm down for a conditioning stint to the American Hockey League on Sunday and he could be in the lineup for the Manitoba Moose against the Laval Rocket. The conditioning stint could last up to two weeks and would allow Chisholm to get some valuable playing time in, while continuing to earn his NHL salary.

“He can’t sit,” said Arniel. “We do have one opportunity to get him some games (in the AHL). We are talking about that right now. He can go down for two weeks. He isn’t in position right now obviously, with (Logan Stanley) probably being ahead of him (on the depth chart) right now. Stan is another guy that has to get in and we’ll discuss that. In all likelihood, that’s what we’re going to move towards, because the schedule for the Moose right now is pretty busy too, so he can get a number of games in there.”

As valuable as it has been for Chisholm to be skating on a daily basis against NHL competition, being able to get some AHL game action under his belt should provide him a great opportunity to be ready for when his name is called once again by the Jets to step into the lineup.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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