Practice Report: Pucks to the Net

VOORHEES, N.J. – Usually a practice ends with Winnipeg Jets players working on individual skills in small groups, but Wednesday’s session wrapped up with something different:

Push-ups.

Well, for half the team anyways.

Logan Stanley was one of those players cranking out reps, as his Team White lost to Team Blue in the small-area game scrimmage at the end of the 45-minute session.

“It was a tough loss today,” Stanley smiled. “You never want to let those blue guys win. We’ll get them next time.”

As with everything, there is a reason the Jets worked some small-area time into practice. It helps with quick decision-making, hand skills, and – of course – gets the competitive juices flowing.

It’s also an opportunity to finish off plays in tight to the net, where the puck hasn’t been going the Jets way of late despite their best efforts.

“Obviously you try to find solutions - put more pucks to the net, try to create more scoring chances for yourself and obviously for your teammates,” said Niederreiter. “Overall, it’s tough not to overthink. It’s easier to play with your instincts instead of trying to overthink everything. When you’re going to slumps, I think that’s what you do, you think too much.”

The Jets (30-13-5) were shutout for the third time in the last seven games on Tuesday, when they opened the two-game road trip with a 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, as the Jets had a number of quality chances (13 of the high-danger variety at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick) that were turned away by Tristan Jarry – who now leads the league in shutouts with six.

Mark Scheifele even had a goal taken off the board after an offside challenge.

Niederreiter has gone 14 games without a goal, and even with his over 800 games of experience in the NHL – and six 20-plus goal seasons - he still feels the pressure to produce, just like he did when he broke into the league with the New York Islanders in the 2010-11 season.

“I wish it would change, it’s still the same as when you start in the league and you don’t score,” said Niederreiter. “When you don’t score it’s frustrating. You have mind games going on with yourself and try to overthink. You don’t trust your shot. That doesn’t change if you’re getting older or sign a long-term deal or whatever. You’re right there and you want to score and produce and do whatever it takes to win. The overthinking is the hardest part.”

He points to his linemate, Mason Appleton, as a good example of what can happen when the dam breaks. Appleton went 25 games without a goal before breaking through with the eventual game-winner against the New York Islanders on January 16.

Now, he’s got three goals in his last six games. Head coach Rick Bowness would love to see that trio with Appleton, Niederreiter, and Adam Lowry get to the front of the net with a little more frequency.

“They’re doing the job we need them to do defensively,” said Bowness. “When they were scoring goals, there were a lot more pucks going to the net, a lot more bodies to the net with that line. You have two big guys going to the net, good things are going to happen.”

Bowness wants to give his (now healthy) forward line-up a chance to gel together before making any switches. After all, the trio of Scheifele, Kyle Connor, and Gabriel Vilardi have only played a handful of games together this season and Sean Monahan just made his Jets debut against the Penguins.

This is how the Jets line rushes looked on Wednesday, with Brenden Dillon, Dominic Toninato, David Gustafsson, and Rasmus Kupari rotating in:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi

Perfetti-Monahan-Ehlers

Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton

Barron-Namestnikov-Iafallo

Morrissey-DeMelo

Samberg-Pionk

Stanley-Schmidt

Next on the Jets schedule is the final regular season tilt with the Philadelphia Flyers, who are one of the other teams this season to shutout the Jets.

“We know it’s going to be a hard game tomorrow against Philly,” said Niederreiter. “We have to create more net front presence, we have to find a way to score more goals. It’s on us forwards to get there.”

STANLEY SLOTTING IN?

With Brenden Dillon set to have a hearing following his match penalty in Pittsburgh, Logan Stanley appears set to play his first game since December 12.

“It’s tough but you just try to work as hard as you can in practice, almost treat it like a game when you’re doing battle drills and things like that,” said Stanley. “Nothing can quite replicate it. It’s been a while, but hopefully I’m not too rusty.”

In total, Stanley has played in six games this season, and should he draw in for a seventh, Bowness feels pairing Stanley with a vocal partner like Nate Schmidt will be helpful.

“When you haven’t played, you’re not in the flow of the game like the other guys. You’re going to rely on your partner an awful lot, and the forwards coming back in the zone to talk a lot,” said Bowness.

“Certainly when your partner is talking to you a lot, you always know where he is. All those things are important.”

Stanley has played with Schmidt in the past and is hopeful that all the work he’s put in after practices pays off on Thursday night.

“Nate is obviously very vocal - on and off the ice - and he makes the game a lot easier,” Stanley said. “He’s a veteran and he’s been around for a long time. He makes the game simple for me.”

While he’s been working hard on the ice, Stanley’s attitude off the ice has been just as important. He understands that with the team playing well, and staying relatively healthy on the blue line, his opportunity was going to be tough to come by.

“I’m so happy the team is doing well,” said Stanley. “The only things I can control is how hard I work every day, be a good teammate, and be positive, and be there for the rest of the guys.”