The Jets will be without Mark Scheifele (lower body) for a sixth straight game and have been shutout in two of the five games missing their number one centre. But it wasn't for lack of trying on Wednesday, the Jets outchanced the Leafs 23-8 at five on five but couldnt find a way to beat Ilya Samsonov. Bowness felt there were offensive plays that the Jets could have made but didn't.
"So that's on us. It wasn't so much what Toronto was doing. We made bad decisions with the puck. So we cleaned that up in video this morning. We addressed it on the ice in practice," said Bowness.
"We created enough chances to score, obviously, one or two goals, but we still left offensive opportunities out there that we didn't make the right play. It doesn't mean that it was going into the net. But there was better options to make with the puck than we showed."
Samsonov will get the start in goal tonight against the Jets. The Russian netminder has had success against Winnipeg over his career with a 3-1 record, 0.99 goals against average and a .970 save percentage.
"When teams are competing and playing hard, those second and third opportunities around the net, winning those little battles, goals that are scored the dirty way, I suppose, the greasy way in front of the net," said Josh Morrissey.
"Those would be the things that you always go to. Sometimes it just goes that way. We had lots of good looks and he made lots of good saves."
It hasn't been made official but Connor Hellebuyck will more than likely be the Jets starter in goal after Laurent Brossoit played on Wednesday. This is the final game before the break for the Jets. If you are concerned that the players are thinking about their holiday, don't be.
“We talked about it yesterday, so there are no excuses," said Bowness.
"Show up and be ready to go. No excuses. None.”
Vilardi did say the break is coming at a good time when asked about it on Friday.
"Yup. Good for everybody if you take advantage of it. If you go around and spend six days and don't move then obviously I dont think that's going to be any good when you come back," said Vilardi.
"But it's something that I'm looking forward to and it's a good opportunity like i said to do extra things to take care of your body and see different people and make sure you try to feel as good as you can coming back. You're never going to be 100 per cent in a season so it's just kind of managing it. Trying to be the most of what you can be."
STAT(S) OF THE DAY
The Jets are 26-for-27 (96.3%) on the penalty kill during their past 10 games. The Jets have climbed to 24th in the NHL with a penalty kill at 78.4%.
