ELMONT, N.Y. — Adam Lowry wasn’t about to shy away from one of the issues that has been plaguing the Winnipeg Jets.
In fact, he brought it up without being asked specifically about it and certainly wasn’t afraid to take responsibility for what started as a highly productive season but has quickly turned ice cold in the offensive zone.
After the Jets closed out a 1-3 road trip with a 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Wednesday, there was Lowry showing the leadership he’s been known for since settling into a full-time role with the hockey club.
“I mean, probably some of it has to do with secondary scoring,” said Lowry, who hasn’t found the back of the net since Dec. 11 against the Washington Capitals, a span of 31 games. “It’s been awhile since me, (Morgan Barron), (Karson Kuhlman), a few other guys have found the back of the net and sometimes that’s the difference.
“You can’t rely on your big guns to score three or four every night, so we’ve got to start carrying the load a little bit and taking a little ownership on that. We created some chances but that’s the difference. They got a goal from their bottom six and we didn’t.”
Jets head coach Rick Bowness agreed with much of Lowry’s assessment.
“Well we need more from the bottom six, there’s no question,” said Bowness. “So you just keep getting them out there and eventually … they work hard. They generate things. They can’t pass up any opportunities to shoot the puck, which I thought they did tonight a few times. But they’re working. They’re around the net. It’s just not going in for them right now.”
Lowry scored seven goals in his first 26 games, but is stuck in an offensive funk and while there have been opportunities to break out of it, nothing seems to be going his way.
So how does a player in a drought balance that fine line between showing urgency, yet not squeezing the stick too tightly when the scoring chances present themselves.
“It’s one of those things. Sometimes you get away from the things that were making you successful early on. They’re little adjustments that you might not even notice,” said Lowry, who has 25 points in 58 games. “Sometimes you’ve got to go back and watch some clips from earlier in the year just to see what you were doing and try to get back to it. And just trying to get back on the same page with some of your linemates. I think, for our line tonight, we at least generated some chances.
“It was a little bit better than (when) we played in the D-zone the whole night against the Rangers. But yeah, coming down the stretch here, we know the games are going to be tight. The margin for error is so slim and I don’t think we made a whole lot of mistakes tonight but neither did they. It’s tough to create offence out there, with two great goalies and two teams that are pretty committed to defence. It’s just finding ways to get some of those greasy ones and generate some momentum for your team.”
With 24 games to go, scoring more could be even more of a challenge with forward Cole Perfetti out and no firm timetable yet established for his return as the Jets await the doctor’s report.
That Islanders goal from the bottom-six was from Simon Kuhlman, who buried a rebound after a Bo Horvat shot at 9:57 of the third period.
The other goal came after a costly turnover at the offensive blue line by Jets winger Mason Appleton, whose drop pass to Nikolaj Ehlers was slightly off the mark.
Puck management has been a concern as the Jets have gone 6-8 during this 14-game stretch and this was another example.
Coaches don’t want to stifle the offensive creativity, but in that four-on-four situation, Appleton has to be 100 per cent sure his pass is in an area where Ehlers can skate to it.
Instead of a dangerous scoring chance for the Jets, the Islanders went on the offensive attack and Sebastian Aho converted the rebound after a shot from Brock Nelson.
“I don’t know. I thought he was going to come out a bit more before dropping it. He just dropped it to the inside of me,” said Ehlers. “It is what it is. If I would have got it, it might have been a great chance. It’s a little misunderstanding, that happens. It ends up in a rebound shot that goes between my skates, backdoor.
“We don’t want to trade chances, I don’t think we did that in that four-on-four shift. We don’t want to turn it over at the blue line, but that was a bit unlucky.”
Ehlers notched the lone goal for the Jets on the power play, scoring on the team’s first opportunity but finishing the evening 1-for-4.
“I didn’t like the last couple,” said Bowness. “Listen, we have two power plays in the third period and we didn’t generate enough shots … They’re the No. 1 penalty killing team in the league at home and they’ve got an outstanding goalie, but that doesn’t mean that you pass it around and pass it around. We have to get more shots, it’s as simple as that.”
Despite falling to 35-22-1 on the season, the Jets remain in the thick of things in both the Central Division and the Western Conference as they prepare to play six of the next seven games on home ice.
“We’re aware with where we stand, the opportunities we have, how tight it is between one through eight, really,” said Lowry. “It’s important you don’t get lost on focusing on the results and, like I was asked earlier about the process, make sure with the wins you are getting are conducive to winning.
“You can’t give up 50 shots like we did against the Rangers and expect to win every night. We know there is an opportunity to win the division and challenge for the conference. Our goal is to finish as high as we can and get home ice as long as we can in the playoffs. It’s important we get back and use this homestand coming up to give ourselves that opportunity to keep climbing in the standings.
“It’s certainly an important stretch coming up for us.”
Bowness is feeling the urgency as well, as he called Friday’s tilt with the Colorado Avalanche the most important game of the season.
While some of that was coach-speak for the next game on the schedule, the Avalanche are four points behind the Jets for second in the Central and hold three games in hand, so this wasn’t really an exaggeration either.
The Jets have time to get things turned around, but it’s been quite some time since they’ve stacked a number of solid games together.
“It just goes to show that we’re not exactly where we want to be. Of course we wanted to win every single game. We know we have work to do,” said Ehlers, who is up to 22 points in 22 games after snapping a 10-game goal-scoring drought. “(Do) everything better. That’s the easy answer. I think we work hard, but I mean, we haven’t scored enough goals to win games. So, we have to clean some stuff up.”
