Next day takeaways: 2 thoughts as the Jets’ offence goes silent in 4-1 loss to Blue Jackets

The Winnipeg Jets came into Sunday’s contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets looking for their third straight win but fell short in the third period, leading to a 4-1 loss. There was plenty to take away from this contest as the Jets returned to Canada Life Centre. 

The Jets’ 5v5 offence has gone ice-cold

The Jets’ one goal on this night came on the power play, Kyle Connor’s 15th goal of the season as he fired a shot glove-side and in to give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead. 

The five-on-five offence has escaped Winnipeg, and at the same time, we are seeing regression from the power play, which has exposed the Jets’ inability to generate chances that much more. 

Over their last nine games, they hold a record of 3-6-0 and rank low across the league in offence. Their Goals/60 since November 14th are 1.5/60, which ranks 31st league-wide across that time. Their expected goals sit at 2.2/60 (26th), scoring chances at 21.94/60 (29th), and shot attempts at 55.73/60 (22nd). When asked about the lack of offence, Scott Arniel said he wants to see more pucks around the net. 

“Yeah, and that’s a little bit of the frustration,” Arniel said. “Our zone time was actually higher than theirs for the game. I thought that there was times where we could have attacked below the circles, where we should have maybe put the puck in the blue paint and created those second chances. I mean, there was a lot of looks where our D had it at the top but it got blocked.”

The Jets finished this game with 68 shot attempts, with only 24 reaching the net. That’s a sign of too many perimeter shots, and not enough high-danger chances, and the Jets will have to look at ways to generate more offence going forward. 

The Jets aren’t using the schedule as an excuse

A common excuse for the Jets’ recent skid has been their gruelling schedule. I believe the schedule has been a factor in the Jets looking fatigued as of late, but the coach and players don’t see it the same way. 

“No. We’re never going to use that one,” Arniel said. “There’s too many teams, I can show you everybody else’s schedule. They’re doing the same thing. You know what, it’s three in four nights, that’s all the more reason to simplify what you’re doing, making sure that you do the right things, that it doesn’t turn into offence for the opposition.”

With the Jets’ next game coming Tuesday at home against the Boston Bruins, they are set to play consecutive home games for the first time since November 7th and 9th. 

Games against Boston and the Vegas Golden Knights are on deck as the Jets look to overcome the fatigue that the schedule has caused against two quality opponents. 

Up next

Three games are remaining on this homestand, against Boston, Vegas, and the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night. We got an update after Sunday’s skate on the status of Nikolaj Ehlers, who the Jets could potentially welcome back from an injury this week. 

“There’ll be a chance he might be skating this week,” Arniel said. “We’ll see. We don’t practice (on Monday). Good chance he’ll be out on the ice this week.” 

Safe to say that the power play and the Jets’ offence as a whole have both looked much different when Ehlers is out of the lineup. 

Stay tuned to Illegalcurve.com for all the updates regarding Ehlers, the Jets on this homestand, and the Manitoba Moose.