Jets struggle with simple mistakes as losing streak hits four

From the moment the Jets star centre approached the reporters and cameras awaiting him, up until the end of his nearly three-minute-long scrum, his eyes remained glued to the floor. His dejection was palpable.

The way Winnipeg played throughout its 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday — its fourth straight defeat — made the result sting even more. 

“We just didn’t play our game,” Scheifele said.

Bit by bit, the Jets have slowly veered away from the style of game that propelled them to a record-setting 15-1-0 start to the season. Prolonged stretches of offensive zone time have been few and far between, while mistakes have continued to pile up. Throughout these last four games, the Jets have averaged just 1.5 goals per game, capitalized on just one of seven power play opportunities and shot themselves in the foot with numerous defensive breakdowns.

But that game against St. Louis was the tipping point.

It all came crashing down in the second period, where the Blues outchanced the Jets 11-3 during even-strength play and scored two 4-on-4 goals late in the middle frame. The team was flat-footed on the first goal against and neither Dylan DeMelo nor Scheifele were able to nullify Jordan Kyrou, who crept right in front of Connor Hellebuyck, even as they stood within arms reach. Less than a minute later, Neal Pionk was out of position and Dylan Holloway capitalized.

Part of it has to be attributed to fatigue. The Jets’ fourth straight loss comes on the heels of a six-game road trip that was spread throughout three different time zones. But publicly, no Jets player is leaning into that narrative.

“Everybody in the league is going through it,” Haydn Fleury deadpanned when asked about fatigue by a reporter, later citing how with the 4 Nations Face-Off coming up, the condensed schedule is impacting everyone.

But the amount of lapses against St. Louis was jarring, with players struggling to execute something as simple as a tape-to-tape pass on a consistent basis. 

“There’s some mental things that are happening and you go ‘wow, where did that come from?’” head coach Scott Arniel said. “It’s happening and it’s happening at the wrong time for us now.” 

The Jets finished the game with just six even-strength high-danger shot attempts and over the last four games, they’ve generated just 17.05 5-on-5 scoring chances per 60 minutes — the lowest mark in the league through that span. 

“The attack mindset is something that we’ve had for most of the year but now we’re deferring,” Arniel said. “We’re trying to maybe make one more play. Our D aren’t getting pucks down from the top to the net front but also we (aren’t creating) that second chance or getting into that battle to get that second chance.”

In other words, they’re playing “cute.” 

“You’re not going to just get those one-timer situations with nobody standing around you. It’s going to take greasy goals, getting inside, deflections, those type of things,” Arniel said. “Right now… we haven’t been able to score as of late, so it’s probably going to take greasy ones. It isn’t going to take highlight-reel ones.”

Especially for a team that’ll be without Nikolaj Ehlers for the next few games. And when it comes to exhibiting simplicity, the loss of sturdy defencemen like Dylan Samberg doesn’t help.

From the start of training camp — after an off-season where Sean Monahan, Tyler Toffoli and Brenden Dillon walked as free agents — the Jets have prided themselves on a next-man-up mentality. Now, more than ever, that’ll be put to the test as they look to stop the bleeding.

 “We have to look ourselves in the mirror and really dig deep because this isn’t going to get any easier,” Fleury said. 

• I’m struggling to wrap my head around Arniel healthy scratching Colin Miller. Miller has been a stabilizing force on the team’s bottom pairing and while it’s great to see Ville Heinola get an opportunity, not dressing Miller and putting both Heinola and Logan Stanley in the lineup is a head-scratcher. Especially with Heinola playing on his off side. Unsurprisingly, that pairing really struggled tonight. 

• All things considered, Brad Lambert looked pretty decent in his season debut. The 20-year-old, who was recalled Tuesday after Ehlers was placed on injured reserve, leveraged his speed on the forecheck and held his own in physical one-on-one battles. But alongside Gabriel Vilardi and Cole Perfetti — two players that aren’t lauded for their foot-speed — Lambert wasn’t in the best position to generate offence in transition. Given that Ehlers is on the shelf and the Jets have been hard-pressed for offence, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Arniel shuffle the top six up even more, in an effort to maximize Lambert’s talent. Now, that’s not to say Lambert has the potential to be a saviour, but the reality is the Jets are in desperate need of a spark and the 20-year-old has the tool-kit to potentially provide them that — if put in the right situation.