Jets look to build off season opener

WINNIPEG – The Jets are going to kick off a challenging three-game homestand tomorrow afternoon against the Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers.

Even though Winnipeg will be looking for their first points of the 2023-24 season, there is a lot of confidence after their season opening loss in Calgary on Wednesday. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Jets had 10 more scoring chances than the Flames at five-on-five (23-13). The line of Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi had nine of those scoring chances.

All in all, there is a lot more positives than negatives coming from Wednesday night.

“The pressure we were putting on them, forcing turnovers on the forecheck, forcing turnovers in the neutral zone. Getting the puck out of their hands in the neutral zone. The breakouts were pretty good at times, so we did a lot of good things,” said Rick Bowness following Friday morning’s practice.

“We created a lot of good offensive opportunities from just the pressure that we’re putting on them now. (Flames goaltender Jacob) Markstrom was outstanding, and he was the difference in the game, you take the goaltending out of it and say, ‘Did we play well enough to win that game?’ Absolutely we did. But those things will even out over 82 games. There’s going to be games that we don’t play very well, and our goalies are going to steal us a game.”

The Jets had four power plays in Calgary against a team that was fourth in penalty killing a season ago. The new look top unit with Alex Iafallo, Gabe Vilardi, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey was dominant as well. The Jets moved the puck quickly and efficiently and deserved better than what they got.

“It’s one of those nights where I thought we did everything right on the power play and we end up going 0-for-4, with a shorthanded goal against us. It’s frustrating from that standpoint but it’s one of those things where there’s lot to build on. It’s just all being on the same page on the power play. I think the best power plays are thinking like a chess game, two or three steps ahead, knowing where each other are, and being in the right spots,” said Morrissey, who had 28 power play points last season.  

“Half a step the wrong way, you’re out of position, seams are not open for yourself or one of the other guys on the ice. I thought we did a good job of one, winning faces, two, winning puck battles, and three, moving the puck quick and with an aggressive mindset around all five guys. There’s lot, like I said, to build on, and hopefully we can get on a roll and start building some positive momentum for the team.”

The line rushes and defence pairings did not change at practice this morning at Canada Life Centre ahead of the Jets home opener against Florida:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi

Niederreiter-Perfetti-Ehlers

Iafallo-Lowry-Appleton

Barron-Kupari-Namestnikov

Morrissey-DeMelo

Samberg-Pionk

Dillon-Schmidt

Stanley-Chisholm

Hellebuyck

Brossoit

The Panthers practiced in Winnipeg today as well and if you watched their first game of the season last night against Minnesota, you would say the same thing you did about the Jets. The Panthers minus Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour took it to the Wild, but Filip Gustavsson made 41 saves in the 2-0 Minnesota win.

Jets captain Adam Lowry says the team is excited about the home opener and feels good about how the Jets have looked so far.

“Start this homestand and start the home half of the year off right. I think we look at that game as a whole, and obviously there are areas we can clean up. We’re going to look to continue to improve. The result wasn’t what we wanted,” said Lowry.

“But I think as a whole we really like how we played. We generated a lot of chances. We didn’t really give up a whole lot five-on-five. I think, more often than not, if we play like that, we’re going to get the result we’re looking for. I know Florida had a tough one last night. If you watch how they played, they’re kind of in the same boat as us. They certainly deserved a better result as well.”