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Fred Greenslade \/ THE CANADIAN PRESS<\/p>\n
The Winnipeg Jets didn\u2019t give their fans much to cheer about Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks. <\/p>\n
There were loud chants of \u201cShoot the puck.\u201d Bronx cheers when a puck finally drifted toward the Anaheim net. One fan screaming a vulgarity from the upper deck. And scattered boos as the final minutes ticked away.<\/p>\n
They say the customer is always right. And the 13,292 in attendance clearly weren\u2019t buying what the Jets were selling in an ugly 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks that further dented Winnipeg\u2019s fading playoff hopes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur fans are fantastic. They\u2019re so passionate and they obviously want us to do so well. And we want to do well for them,\u201d Perfetti said Wednesday following his team\u2019s optional skate ahead of facing the New York Rangers on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a game like (Tuesday) night where we didn\u2019t create much, they\u2019re coming out and supporting us still. We didn\u2019t give them much of a show.\u201d<\/p>\n
No, they certainly did not.<\/p>\n
Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal barely broke a sweat as he was only tested 13 times over 60 minutes. None of those shots came off the stick of Winnipeg\u2019s four highest-paid players \u2014 Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Gabe Vilardi and Josh Morrissey.<\/p>\n
Perfetti, didn\u2019t have one either, meaning all five members of the top power-play unit \u2014 which went 0-for-3 \u2014 were blanked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely weird for all those guys, all of us to not get pucks to the net. You know, it was a mixture of them playing pretty good defence and us not executing, not being sharp,\u201d said Perfetti.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully we can just flush that one away and that doesn\u2019t happen again. We need everyone contributing. For all of us to not get a shot it\u2019s not acceptable. We know that, we know we need to improve and everyone in this locker room needs to up their game.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s especially true considering this group is supposed to be fighting for its playoff lives, which likely contributed to the fan reaction on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously it sucks when they\u2019re cheering when we get a shot on net. That\u2019s not what we want to give for them. It\u2019s not how we want to play,\u201d said Perfetti.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously it got to a point where it must not have been very fun for them to watch if they\u2019re cheering for us to get a shot on net. It\u2019s embarrassing a little bit, but at the end of the day they\u2019re passionate, they\u2019re wanting us to do well and we want to do well for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan Barron scored Winnipeg\u2019s lone goal against one of the league\u2019s most porous defensive teams, giving the Jets a 1-0 lead before the night quickly unraveled. Anaheim struck three times in a chaotic 104-second span, turning the game on its head.<\/p>\n
During the second intermission, Barron offered a blunt assessment in an interview with TSN\u2019s Kevin Sawyer: \u201cIt looks like we have nothing to play for out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a damning observation \u2014 and likely not one appreciated by fans who paid hundreds of dollars to watch what unfolded. At that point, the Ducks held a 28-7 advantage in shots. They finished with a commanding 34-13 edge, leading head coach Scott Arniel to declare his group \u201claid a big, fat egg.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the game, Barron didn\u2019t sugarcoat things.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt calls for a better effort than that. Straight from the top to the bottom of our lineup,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The rising frustration inside the arena \u2014 which built from a low rumble to a crescendo during the third period \u2014 was impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously it\u2019s not a good feeling. You can hear the frustration. I think they have the right to be frustrated in a game like that,\u201d said Barron.<\/p>\n
Jets forward Gustav Nyquist, who has just one goal this season, was at least willing to pull the trigger. He led Winnipeg with three shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what, I get the frustration. We were frustrated, too, obviously not being able to generate,\u201d said Nyquist. \u201cBut we know they\u2019re behind us, so move on to the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attendance has been a major storyline surrounding the Jets in recent years. After their season-ticket base of more than 13,000 dipped to roughly 9,500 following the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization has been slowly rebuilding it, with two consecutive seasons of growth pushing the total back to around 10,500.<\/p>\n
The Jets also entered this season riding plenty of on-ice momentum after capturing the Presidents\u2019 Trophy last year. But things have gone sideways since then.<\/p>\n
With just 19 regular-season games remaining, Winnipeg sits 27th overall in the standings \u2014 and performances like Tuesday\u2019s do little to inspire optimism. It\u2019s likely no coincidence that two of the three smallest crowds of the season have come during the current homestand.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s attendance was the second-lowest of the year. Last Thursday\u2019s game against Tampa Bay, which drew 13,473, was the third-lowest.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n
On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n
\t\t\tSign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Through 32 home games, the Jets have recorded seven sellouts of 15,225 and are averaging 14,203 fans per game. That\u2019s down slightly from last year\u2019s average of 14,366 \u2014 a season that finished with eight straight sellouts and 16 overall.<\/p>\n A similar late-season surge seems unlikely this time around, especially if the on-ice product doesn\u2019t improve quickly.<\/p>\n Perfetti knows the responsibility goes both ways.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully (Thursday) night we can give them a much better performance to cheer about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/mikemcintyre<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Mike McIntyre 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
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