Winnipeg Jets, which aims to maintain a high intensity when the playoffs, go to Vancouver to meet Canucks on Tuesday.
Just tried to stay afloat Canucks (31-25-11, 73 points) got a 3-1 defeat on Sunday against Utah-one of the teams they try to hold the playoffs-after blown an early lead.
“You look at the position before the game … try to distance yourself from teams, it seems pretty compact, so to not be able to do it … It sticks,” Canucks said forward Jake Dabrok after the loss. “But you have to move forward. … that’s what a playoff mentality is about-to try to stay even.”
The profit led the Utah Hockey Club within two points from Vancouver. Both sides are locked in a four-team race for the second Wild-Card quay together with St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames.
Canuck’s head coach Rick Tochet acknowledged the coaching staff’s frustration after the defeat and highlighted the club’s inability to play when needed and his struggle to improve how “some guys handle pressure.”
Given where Canucks is in the position, the last thing their coach wants for his players to feel brave.
“You have to release it,” Tochet said when asked about the playoffs of the loss. “It’s no different if you lose a playoffs. You have to flush this. Are we disappointed? Yes. But … We have a big Winnipeg team that comes in … It’s games to play from here.”
NHL’s first place Winnipeg Jets (47-17-4, 98 points) continues to find ways to win. They roll into Vancouver on a winning line with three games and have won five of their last six competitions.
Jets, who comes from a 3-2 overtime victory in Seattle on Sunday, has not yet locked first place in the Central Division or Western Conference.
“We’ve talked about it: Take care of your own company,” said Jets coach Scott Arniel to avoid attention to the position with less than a month left in the regular season. “… don’t worry about what’s going on down there.”
So if the Jets coach does not pay attention to the season, are the players?
“Yes, we know, but I don’t think we’re focused on it,” said goalkeeper Eric Comrie. He answered a question about Dalla’s overtime loss to Colorado on Sunday, which extended Jets leadership over the stars to 11 points in the Central Division. “We have put ourselves in a good scenario where we have control over our own destiny. If we do our job and check what we can control, we have the upper hand.”
Canucks Center Filip Chytil missed Sunday’s game (concussion protocol) and does not play Tuesday. His condition will be monitored in the next few days before deciding whether he will join Vancouver’s upcoming sex games. Goalkeeper Thatcher Demko (lower bodily injury) may also get closer to a return, as he participated in practice on Friday but is not yet ready for gaming measures.
Jets defender Neal Pionk is week to week due to a lower bodily injury.
-Field level media
