EAST MEADOW, NY – Mason Appleton is still shaking his head about the three power play goals the Winnipeg Jets gave up against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
“It was almost like ‘dang, how did that happen?’ We didn’t get seamed and it was a backdoor tap-in for an empty net,” the forward said. “The (first Jack) Hughes one, blocked shot he gets the rebound. The other Hughes one, they have a flat screen and (Laurent Brossoit) doesn’t see it and it goes through the five hole. The Timo Meier one, he sauces it from the half wall at the blue line and they get the tip in front, and you’re like ‘really?’”
Even if he’s somewhat frustrated at how they went in, the 28-year-old forward isn’t just tossing the game film and moving on. No one is.
“You can’t give up three in a game and expect to win the game,” said Appleton, who ranks second among Jets forwards in shorthanded ice time per game at 1:39. “That’s unacceptable.”
Perhaps that’s why before the Jets moved into special teams work during Friday’s 30-minute skate at Northwell Health Ice Center, the group came together for a chat that lasted a couple minutes longer than usual.
“We just tried to reset, we talked about it, and reset in some of our principles that we talked about from the start of the year,” said interim head coach Scott Arniel. “Things we want to be good at no matter what power play we see. We need to be better tomorrow against the Islanders.”
Thursday night marked the first time this season the Jets had given up three goals while on the penalty kill. In fact, since the calendar turned over to 2024, Winnipeg’s penalty kill had shown improvement. As of December 31, the Jets penalty kill was ranked 26th in the National Hockey League at 75 percent.
In the month of January, the Jets PK was 16th best and heading into Thursday’s game against the Devils, it was still inside the league’s top 20 since 2024 began.
Dylan DeMelo felt there were a few key reasons why things slipped on Thursday, but also knows the Jets could’ve helped themselves early on in those kills.
“They started with the puck on every single face-off. Face-offs are a four-man responsibility, it’s not just the centre,” he said. “It’s a bit of a reset for us. Hopefully some things we can do better with our details and make sure we make the right play when it’s there.”
The next power play the Jets face will be that of the New York Islanders, which holds down the 15th spot in the NHL heading into Friday’s action. Over the course of New York’s six-game winless skid, that power play has scored twice in 20 opportunities.
But the Jets expect the best out of the Islanders in Saturday’s matinee.
“Normally when we work on special teams it’s power play, and that’s kind of the emphasis. Today was the opposite,” said Appleton. “The emphasis was on the kill. We cleaned up a couple things we feel will help us sort some stuff out and be able to jump on them a little quicker.”
LINE RUSHES
Nikolaj Ehlers – who scored Winnipeg’s only goal against the Devils on Thursday – was the lone member of the Jets that didn’t practice, though Arniel said that was for maintenance purposes.
With Ehlers off the ice, the Jets line rushes looked like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Perfetti-Monahan-Toffoli
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Gustafsson-Namestnikov
Kupari
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt
Stanley-Miller
FACING THE ISLANDERS
Winnipeg won the only other meeting between the two teams this season, a 4-2 decision at Canada Life Centre on January 16.
Anders Lee scored both goals for the Islanders, while Appleton, Gabriel Vilardi, Neal Pionk, and Kyle Connor provided the offence for the Jets.
Like the Devils, the Islanders (29-25-15) are battling for the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. As of Friday afternoon, the Islanders found themselves five points back of the Detroit Red Wings – who beat the Islanders 6-3 on Thursday – with one game in hand.
“They’re in a race, they’re a hungry dog,” said Arniel. “They’re a big team, they’re a heavy team, and they don’t give you a lot of space to work. It’ll be a lot like Jersey last night where they clogged up the middle of the ice. We’re going to have to be disciplined and make sure we work to get pucks down in low.”
The game will also be the 12th of the 16 Winnipeg will play this month, and also kicks off the final set of back-to-backs the Jets will play this regular season.
It has been a busy stretch, but the Jets aren’t using that as an excuse.
“At the end of the day we have to find a way to win games no matter what,” said DeMelo. “We’ve done a good job of managing ice time in regards to practice days, off days, lighter days. At this time of the year, you’re at 65-70 games, that toll on its own is something, then you have 16 games in March it’s another element added to it.”
