RALEIGH — No sticks were smashed. No walls punched. And nary a naughty word was uttered.
Instead, the Winnipeg Jets filed off the ice here at Lenovo Center on Sunday afternoon much like they’d just played the preceding game against the Carolina Hurricanes — with no emotion, no passion, no urgency.
You’d have thought yet another loss, this one in truly humiliating fashion and a ninth consecutive overall, might have triggered something.
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Carolina Hurricanes’ Nikolaj Ehlers (27) controls the puck near Winnipeg Jets goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) during the second period in Raleigh, N.C., Sunday.
Anything.
Nothing.
Any thoughts that a paint-peeling closed door meeting might be on the menu after a 7-0 beatdown were quickly erased when players emerged after just a few minutes, loading their equipment bags for trainers and grabbing a slice or two of pizza waiting for them in the hallway.
A few soon filtered over to the Hurricanes side to catch up with some old friends.
This appears to be a group that has gotten way too comfortable with the status quo. Which, if you’ve been following along since last season, involves a ton of failure and very little in the way of change.
Even the way head coach Scott Arniel, captain Adam Lowry and veteran defenceman Dylan DeMelo answered post-game questions from the Free Press suggested it’s just a matter of continuing to do the same things over and over again, hopefully with a different result.
Isn’t that the textbook definition of insanity?
Winnipeg is now 4-8-3 on the year, ahead of only the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers when it comes to point percentage. And that’s despite the fact they started 4-1-1, only to go 0-7-2 over the past nine.
The losing streak could hit double-digits on Tuesday when the road trip wraps up in Montreal. But before we get to La Belle Province, some additional thoughts on this one.
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Winnipeg Jets’ Dawson Mercer (19) watches Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov (52) block his shot during the first period in Raleigh, N.C., Sunday.
WILL CHANGE BE IN THE AIR?
Is Arniel worried about his job? After all, he’s a lame duck coach in the sense his current contract doesn’t go beyond this one, and his group has now been outscored 23-7 over the past four games.
“It’s not on my mind. I’m not worrying about it,” he said.
“I’ve been in this game a long, long time. That’s beyond my control. My job is to get these players ready to go. I’ve got to just keep doing my job because I’m telling them to keep doing their job. It’s all of us finding a way to be better when we go into Montreal.”
The obvious follow-up question was then posed: Have they stopped listening to your message? Sunday’s game, which Arniel referred to as “embarrassing as an organization,” might suggest that’s the case.
“I mean, that’s your decision to make on that call,” he replied.
“For me, I’m doing everything I possibly can with my coaching staff to hopefully get these guys ready to go. Once the puck drops and once it’s on the other side of the ice there, (over) the boards there, these guys have to also take some responsibility as well.”
Although he wouldn’t put a timeline or a number on it, Lowry conceded nobody should be feeling at ease.
“If it goes on, there’s going to be changes for sure. If you don’t start winning, you’ve got to find an answer somewhere,” he said.
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Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho (20) tips the puck past Jets goaltender Stuart Skinner for a goal during the second period in Raleigh, N.C., Sunday. Below, Sean Walker (26) skates back to the bench after celebrating his goal with teammates Sebastian Aho (20), and Seth Jarvis (24) with Winnipeg Jets’ Neal Pionk (4) and Mark Scheifele (55) looking on.
“Guys on the Moose are playing well. I think as players, our job is to go out and execute the game plan, but we’ve got to execute it. You can be given the details, but if you’re not going out there and winning the draw, you’re not passing it on the tape, you’re not doing the things you need to do to be successful. It doesn’t matter what game plan you’re given.”
Added DeMelo on the subject: “I think you got to worry about your job and be the best version of you you can be. That’s all you can control. Start thinking about things that you can’t control and you’re in a tough spot. That’s gonna be useless information for us.”
ANATOMY OF A ROUT
We’ll spare you all the grisly details of this one, but this encapsulates it perfectly. At one point in the second period, Carolina had five goals and Winnipeg had a total of five shots.
A 1-0 lead through 20 minutes, where the Jets played OK-ish, quickly became a rout in the middle frame.
All the usual suspects were to blame — defensive breakdowns, turnovers and abysmal special teams, which included going 0-for-3 on the power play, giving up a shorthanded goal and surrendering two more goals while the Jets were down a man.
“It’s a collective of a whole bunch of things,” said Lowry.
“There’s been different things in the streak. But (Sunday) it’s a tight game after the first. And then it’s the consistency we’ve talked about. It’s playing all three periods. It’s just not there. We’ve got to find it because we go into another tough test in Montreal and no one’s throwing us a lifeline. Like, we’ve got to find a way to get out of this.”
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Winnipeg Jets’ Nino Niederreiter (62) moves the puck around Carolina Hurricanes’ Nicolas Deslauriers (44) during the third period in Raleigh, N.C., Sunday.
Pity starting goaltender Stuart Skinner, who was celebrating his 28th birthday on Sunday and was given a second straight mercy pull after 40 minutes. He stopped 12 of 17 shots he faced before Clay Stevenson took over in the final frame, turning aside 13 of 15 in mop-up duty.
“We’ve hung our goalies out to dry,” said Lowry. “Just every facet of the game hasn’t been good enough for us.”
Meanwhile Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov improved to a perfect 10-0-0 on the year with a relatively easy-peasy 26-save shutout. The reigning Stanley Cup champs have picked up right where they left off and are on top of the NHL standings with a 12-2-2 record.
KEY PLAY
Sean Walker’s shorthanded goal just 5:16 into the game really set the tone. It was the 11th time in the last 13 games the Jets have given up the opening tally, and that’s no way to live when you are as fragile and offensively-challenged as they are.
THREE STARS:
1. CAR D Sean Walker: 2 goals
2. CAR C Logan Stankoven: 1 goal, 2 assists
3. CAR C Sebastian Aho: 1 goal, 1 assist
KARL DEBLAKER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Carolina Hurricanes’ Sean Walker (26) skates back to the bench after celebrating his goal with teammates Sebastian Aho (20), and Seth Jarvis (24) with Winnipeg Jets’ Neal Pionk (4) and Mark Scheifele (55) looking on during the first period in Raleigh, N.C., Sunday.
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EXTRA, EXTRA
The Jets made one lineup change, as Nino Niederreiter returned to the lineup after a series of healthy scratches, replacing forward Cole Koepke who is dealing with a lower-body injury.
Winnipeg dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen for a second straight outing, although blue-liner Tyrel Bauer was used sparingly as a forward. That left Brad Lambert and the extra goaltender, Nico Daws, as the scratches, while defenceman Josh Morrissey and forward Vlad Namestnikov remain on the injured list.
Former Jets forward Nikolj Ehlers, who scored the game-winning goal when Carolina beat Winnipeg on Oct. 17 at Canada Life Centre, had two asssists in this one. As did Winnipegger Seth Jarvis, who recently returned from injury and now has seven points (1G, 6A) in six games.
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Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike.
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