It’s hard to be critical of the Winnipeg Jets. After all, they are the defending President’s Trophy winners. The penalty kill has been terrific. Mark Scheifele has been one of the best players in the NHL for three weeks.
The Jets were certainly impressive in their first six games, winning five. So many things went right. We were getting reminders of the start this team had 12 months ago, when it went 15-1 to start the season. All of us started to think another strong start was inevitable.
But, if you dig deeper, of their five wins, four were against teams that didn’t get to the post-season last year. To many, those are games that this high-powered Jets team are supposed to win.
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Three games in four nights, all at home, all against non-playoff teams. It’s not too much to expect this Jets team to win all three for six full points. Now that that goal is unreachable, because the Seattle Kraken smothered the Jets Thursday night.
This team has to answer the real challenge of the NHL season. That challenge is you can’t take nights off in this league. Friday night against the Calgary Flames, Sunday against the Utah Mammoth, this Winnipeg team has to rebound after the Kraken disappointment in this compacted NHL schedule.
And that might be easier said than done, except that’s what quality teams do — they win the games on the schedule against teams with less talent. They don’t get outworked. Thursday night, the Kraken outworked the Jets. And as tight as the game was, Seattle deserved the win. Head coach Lane Lambert has his squad working oh so hard.
The level of talent in this league is so close between the teams that hard work is often the differentiator. The Flames can beat the Jets. So can Utah. But not if the Jets work as hard as their opposition. If you are a Jets fan, you can only hope, for the Jets’ sake, that the loss to Seattle was a wake-up call.
This is a great test for a team that is expected to compete long and hard, and well beyond the regular season.
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