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...it’s the size of the fight in the dog, something the Winnipeg Jets have to prove they possess as they attempt to battle for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. It’s another cliché “do or die” game tonight but the situation doesn’t matter if the Jets cannot muster something within themselves which drives the desire to compete and win… at all costs.
It’s the last part which must be taken to heart for fans, players and management alike if the Jets are to make a final push to secures 8th place. No matter what shift, what period, or what the score is the Jets have to play like this game is a game seven and the loser goes home. It’s almost true, aside from some improbable mathematics, that a loss tonight would seal the fate of the Jets as far as this season goes. They would trail Washington by 7 points with 8 games left but that is not the only problem, or challenge.
The Buffalo Sabres are sitting in ninth place, just one point back of the Capitals and could leap frog them tonight should the Jets win the Rangers lose. It would be nice to think that a 3 point game, with a Jets win, would help against the Sabres but it does not it only hurts the Jets more. Thus this is the position the team finds themselves in due mainly because they cannot win on the road.
The Jets have the third worst road games points percentage in the league, one that is marginally better than the two worst teams overall, Columbus and Edmonton, own road records. On the road the Jets are as bad as the two worst teams in the league and only 9 points better than Edmonton overall.
To provide you dear reader with an example of how bad the Jets are on the road consider the Montreal Canadiens, a team who has beat the Jets three of four times. The Habs have .459 road record for points percentage, totalling 8 more than Winnipeg. They also sit as the third worst team by overall record with 69 points. Had the Jets matched the lowly Canadiens road record, or Leafs or Islanders, they would be sitting 1 point behind the Panthers for top spot in the South Eastern and third seeding in the east.
So why return to the road record issues now? Why go back and rehash something we all know to be true and beyond obvious? The Jets need to win on the road to have any chance of making up the five points on Washington and hold off Buffalo who are four points ahead of them.
After tonight the Jets have three games at home and five on the road. Assuming the best event happens tonight with a Jets win and Sabres loss the Jets will have closed the lead to 3 points and 2 respectively. The Caps and Sabres would have seven games left apiece and for the sake of argument hopefully both teams play out at .500 hockey earning 7 points each and finish with 88 and 87. The Jets have a game in hand with three at home.
Being fair to the Jets we’ll forget about the recent home game eggs they laid when playing Carolina and Edmonton and give them 6 points. That would leave them with 84 points and five road games to earn three points to tie Washington.
The Jets have played 18 road games to date since the start of 2012 and have 6 wins and 12 losses. They have only 1 ‘loser point’ out of those 18 losses, just to make matters worse. What makes the picture even worse is that of the 11 wins the Jets have on the road, 6 have come either in OT or the SO.
Forget how big the games are, if the Jets can’t muster some fight on the road this season is finished tonight. We can all look for explanations to this problem later when there is plenty of time to go over the stats, game by painful game but right now the team needs a solution. If it were me, that road record would be the only thing on the chalkboard before every game with the words “Is this who you are?” underneath. Tonight we find out just who the Jets are: the lazy dog or junkyard dog.
Jones in for Clitsome... oh boy.
Enjoy the game.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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