It’s just a game, but the Winnipeg jets provided convincing evidence on Saturday evening that they are a different team from the one who had lost 12 of his 14 previous qualifying games.
Throughout the regular season, whether it was head coach Scott Arniel – or almost any player who was part of this Sweep series against Montreal in 2021 or the five games of five games in Vegas and Colorado more recently – the singular message was that the 82 game calendar made it possible to prepare for the adversity of the playoffs.
And to this end, perhaps the strongest argument they made Victory victory over Saint-Louis on Saturday looked at all the same as the team that won the president’s trophy.
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Even if the fans were anxious with Winnipeg spending a little more than half of the match 1 in the trail position, the players were not. Or at least, they did not even display the slightest clue, methodically taking the game about 30 minutes.
But the jets can – and must almost certainly be – better Monday evening.
Whether it is a calmer and composed start, slowing a power game from St. Louis, all of Pudden, or reducing the domination of the blues to the point of playing, Winnipeg must advance the needle.
And this will be the next step in the process.
The franchise has a 3-7 sheet in match 2, not having won in the second match of a series since the goal in overtime of Paul Stastny against Edmonton in a Rogers place empty four years ago.
Arniel says that this is not a subject that is worth having a conversation with his players, and he is absolutely right. Because in the playoffs, the following game becomes the most important.
And wouldn’t that be something for jets to keep the service at home and overcome this bump from the match 2 Monday evening?
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