Wake up, Jets: Bowness says team was ‘asleep’ at start of dismal loss to Avalanche

WINNIPEG — Well, it turns out the most important game of the year turned out to be the biggest no-show of the season for the Winnipeg Jets.

For a team coming off a disappointing 1-3 road trip, the Jets were expected to come out and play an inspired game against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Instead, they gave up a breakaway goal to Nathan MacKinnon 19 seconds after the opening faceoff and laid an egg in what was a 5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night at Canada Life Centre.

Considering the circumstances — with the Jets well aware that the Avalanche, Minnesota Wild and Calgary Flames are chasing them down and eliminating what used to be a solid cushion — an effort like this one was inexcusable.

Rather than being up for the challenge, the Jets looked more like a team searching for answers as the stretch run is ramping up.

Meanwhile, the Avalanche provided another not-so-subtle reminder that they remain the gold standard — or more specifically, the sterling silver standard — in the Western Conference, no matter what the ever tightening standings might suggest.

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“We got humbled tonight,” said Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon. “I wish I had better answers for you. We’ve talked enough about it the last couple of games even before the road trip, of finding a way with three one-goal games we lose on that road trip. Some winnable games. And then you come back and we know the importance of tonight. There’s no excuses for how that went.

“Breakaways, two-on-ones, three-on-twos, odd-man rushes, our net-front — it was just a little bit of everything, really. They showed us what the benchmark is, what a team that’s won and knows the importance of these games and how to rise to the occasion. We’ve got to take the lesson from that.”

Whether it was MacKinnon getting his team going with a goal and an assist or Mikko Rantanen scoring his 37th of the season and adding an assist of his own, the best players on the Avalanche were front and centre.

The Jets’ top players couldn’t find the scoresheet and dealt with a heavy dose of frustration throughout most of the evening.

The scary thing for the Jets was that the Avalanche were without stud defenceman and reigning Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar, who is sidelined after suffering his second concussion in 11 days.

With Makar out, there was Bowen Byram picking up the slack with an important goal and eating up some of those minutes.

Need some secondary scoring?

How about Matt Nieto chipping in an insurance marker when he was left alone in front in one of several glaring defensive-zone errors.

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“We’re game 58, 59 now, there’s just no excuses for it to happen,” said Dillon. “We wanted to treat these last games, coming out of the bye week, 30 games, whatever it was, (with a) playoff mentality. That just wasn’t it. You’ve got to take away their speed, you’ve got to be physical every chance you can. The little plays, a little less is more in the sense that if you get a puck through the middle, we’ve just gotta get it in and grind them down a little bit. That’s what they’re doing to us. It showed over the 60 minutes.

“We know we’re a good team. It just seems like on certain nights we look like a Stanley Cup contender. And then on certain nights where we don’t. And don’t even look close. And I think tonight was one of those. We all just kind of know what our role is, try to be a piece to the puzzle and not try to do something else or do something more than that. If we do that on most nights this year, we’ve shown we can be a better team. There’s a reason they were the champs last year.”

The Jets lost too many races and too many battles and didn’t manage much in terms of a response after the Avalanche built a big lead.

That’s not anything close to a winning recipe.

“We can’t hang the best goalie in the league out to dry,” said Jets forward Mason Appleton, who scored a power play marker at 3:12 of the first period. “It’s not like we’re not trying to respond, you know? We’re playing a damn good hockey team in that other room. But you’re right, we didn’t have the right response. And we wanted to give that and we wanted to give better, but we didn’t. It’s a results business and we’ve lost a couple here and that’s unacceptable. We’ve got to steer the ship back in the right direction.”

Avalanche goalie Alexandar Georgiev was the second-busiest goalie on this night, but he’s settling nicely into a groove and providing the type of netminding that inspires confidence.

Connor Hellebuyck gave up four goals on the first five shots on goals that he faced, but there were no softies and he received little support on this night. Coach Rick Bowness pulled Hellebuyck for just the second time this season, calling David Rittich out of the bullpen to play the third.

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“I wasn’t worried about the goaltending,” said Bowness, who wouldn’t commit to a starting goalie for Sunday against the visiting New York Islanders. “Did you see the shots they had? They had all day to shoot. What do you want a goalie to do there? Nothing.”

So what comes next for the Jets?

If a visit from the Avalanche didn’t put them on high alert, what will?

The Jets have lost nine of the past 15 games (6-9) and an inability to secure many points beyond regulation could put them in a precarious position if they can’t get things turned around quickly.

The Islanders come to town on Sunday and the Jets play their final game before the NHL trade deadline on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Kings.

“Our character and pride has been tested. We didn’t respond. We absolutely have to respond, win or lose, Sunday. There has to be a lot more emotion. There has to be a lot more commitment to work,” said Bowness.

“None of that was there. You can talk about it all you want. It wasn’t there. You saw the game, just report what you saw. That’s what it was. It doesn’t matter what anyone says right now. It doesn’t. It’s what our eyes just told us. And our eyes told us that we were asleep to start the game. There’s no excuses.

“Every once in a while, this game is going to test your character and it’s going to test your pride. We just got embarrassed. Again, let’s see how we respond.”

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