WINNIPEG – This was a classic case of actions speaking so much louder than words for the Winnipeg Jets.
At a time when the magnifying glass was firmly planted on this first-place showdown with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Jets showed a renewed commitment to defence and put an exclamation point on an exemplary road trip with a 5-2 triumph on Saturday night in the centre of the hockey universe.
And after that final buzzer had sounded, Mark Scheifele, Adam Lowry and Jets head coach Paul Maurice were singing from the same hymn book.
None of them were about to pound on their respective chests or waste any time patting themselves on the back for a job well done.
Despite taking five of six points against a Maple Leafs club that dismantled the last challenger to the throne to the tune of a 13-1 composite score in a three-game sweep, the Jets treated the endeavour as though it was just another day at the office.
This was the type of game they routinely want to play, whether it’s against the class of the North Division or the cellar-dwelling Ottawa Senators.
If members of the media or the outside world wants to call this a statement game or a measuring stick series, so be it.
The Jets call it another step in the process, another brick in the wall.
“Oh for sure, obviously we’re very, very happy with the way this series went. But every game is a measuring stick,” said Scheifele, who scored his 12th goal of the season and is sitting fifth in NHL scoring with 36 points in 27 games. “You can’t just rest on your laurels and think about just this game and this series. You’ve got to focus on continuing to get better.
“Those are the teams that have success in the playoffs, the teams that keep on ramping it up as the year goes on and we’ve got to use this great series and take it for the rest of the season and know when we’re at our best, what makes us the best team we can be and keep on working toward that.”
Keeping that perspective is essential for the Jets.
Sure, the success from the past three games is to be celebrated, but only one of those outings included something that resembles a template suitable for a sustained run of success.
This was a glimpse into the type of effort the Jets want to provide on a more consistent basis.
“I don’t know. You always want to play your best and get results,” Lowry said. “Good teams not only find ways to win games, but get it to overtime. In Game 1, they kind of turned it up on us in the third period. It’s important there’s a bit of a pushback. We know that as a team we could play a little tighter, a little better.
“But I think (Saturday) definitely was the best effort of the three games. I don’t know if we were necessarily looking to make a statement, we were just trying to finish the road trip on the right foot and I think we’re happy with how the road trip went.”
No matter how you slice it, you can be sure the Jets came away from this series with a serious jolt of confidence.
Not only from Saturday’s game, but from the way the Jets responded after getting shelled 7-1 by the Montreal Canadiens on March 6.
Jets captain Blake Wheeler was quick to proclaim that was nothing but an outlier – and his teammates spent the next three games backing up those words.
After leaning heavily on goalie Connor Hellebuyck during the first two games of the series, Maurice turned to backup Laurent Brossoit for the series finale in what was both a show of confidence and an opportunity to get his No. 1 guy a three-day block of rest in a month where the Jets play 17 games in 31 days.
As he’s done basically every time his number has been called this season, Brossoit delivered, even if there were some challenges to work through, including an early goal which was disallowed due to a hand pass after a video review was required and biting on a William Nylander fake that opened up just enough room for him to squeeze a shot through the pads.
Brossoit, who made 20 saves and won a fourth consecutive start, wasn’t overworked as the Jets neutralized the Maple Leafs’ potent attack in what was the most complete defensive effort put forth this season.
“We didn’t get ahead of ourselves in the defensive zone. We weren’t trying to get it to a next place,” Maurice said. “We just stayed in the battle and stayed in the fight. I thought we were a little ahead of the game in our first two. We were trying to get stuff going, right? We were trying to generate, and I thought we were really effective at being comfortable in our own end.
“They’re such a powerful, offensive team, and they have a unique way of controlling the puck that you’re going to spend some time in your end regardless of how well you play. I thought we were there as five and committed to it.”
That’s the thing.
After hearing ad nauseam about how the Maple Leafs had carried the bulk of the play and generated a lopsided amount of quality scoring chances this week, the Jets went out and did something about it.
They flat-out smothered their high-octane opponent, while showing off their own offensive chops in the process.
Despite giving up a shorthanded goal to Jake Muzzin in the second period, the Jets found a way to win the special-teams battle, delivering a pair of power play goals in the third from Nikolaj Ehlers that made it 4-2 and another from Scheifele that came on a two-man advantage.
The game-winner was courtesy of Lowry, who snapped a 19-game drought and finished with a two-point night after setting up Mason Appleton for the opening marker of the contest.
Just how good was the Jets’ third line, which includes Andrew Copp, on this evening?
“I wouldn’t number them three, that’s how good,” quipped Maurice. “They were true to identity, It’s not a line you put on the ice necessarily to hold water anymore. That’s the vision for that line. They’ll just generate it in a different way — net drive, with a battle behind the net, those close plays behind the net. They were really good.”
By wrapping up the five-game road trip with a record of 3-1-1, the Jets banked seven important points and pulled within four points of the Maple Leafs for top spot in the North – and they’ll hold three games in hand by the time the Jets play again.
As important as this stretch was for the Jets – and this development can’t be discounted – the next test is just around the corner, as the Canadiens serve as the opponent on Monday and will attempt to regroup after dropping consecutive games to the Calgary Flames under new bench boss Darryl Sutter.
So it goes in the North, where one day a team dreams of being in a battle for first and just a few days later, it’s only natural to be looking over your shoulder at a club or two with plans of passing you.
With the midway point of the season arriving on Monday for the Jets, one thing is certain: the hard work is just beginning, but that gap between them and the Maple Leafs might not be as wide as most observers thought it was.
The best news is that there are six more head-to-head games left on the docket to sort that out – and neither team will be lacking motivation when the next one arrives on March 31.
“Honestly it doesn’t mean that much,” said Scheifele when asked about the value this series could potentially have down the road. “We’re still going to play them a bunch more times this year and playoffs are a ways away. Both teams are going to be a lot different come playoff time, but they’re obviously fun to play against. They’re a fantastic team, a lot of really, really fun players to watch on their team and it’s always a fun battle against the Leafs.”
