The old adage in the playoffs is that ‘you are not in trouble until you have lost at home’. It’s as a simple yet very telling statement at least if you are the team with home ice advantage. In the series between the Jets and Ducks the Jets have to win at least one game on the road if they hope to move on the second round.
That chance on Thursday was there and depending on how you look at the game it was either a lost opportunity or one that was stolen by Ducks.
The biggest difference between the Jets and Ducks from game one was the home team was there to wear down the Jets as the game wore on, simply by intensity. That was what most people thought the Jets would do, but the tables were turned. The Ducks made zone exits for the Jets miserable and they confounded the the visitor’s power play. The came out with a 4-2 win.
That was Thursday and if the Jets hope to recover from that loss they may have to take a page out of the Canucks book. The Canucks had an unfortunate break when the Flames scored a late goal and sealed a win for game one. However, by game two the Canucks changed course and drove the Flames all game at a torrid pace. Just like the Jets, the Canucks did not have al players firing in game one, but that changed for game two.
So the question most Jets fans are asking is simple- are all the Jets going to show up? Yes they were all there in game on but Ladd and Little certainly struggled as well as Byfuglien having a hard time finding a role. Take those three players from being a part of the game and any opposition does themselves a great favour.
The task is for them to find their way back in… to see where they can make contributions and disrupt Anaheim’s tactics.
Little only had just under 16 minutes of ice time and Ladd at 19 minutes both lower than their regular season averages. Even Blake Wheeler was down as well. When looking back at the shift charts it appears that Paul Maurice was having a hard time getting the matchup he wanted again Perry and Getzlaf. Sometimes it was Ladd Little Frolic and other times it was Wheeler Stafford Scheifele. The same can be said with the defence pairings as well when the two Anaheim players were on the ice.
The troubling part that has to be looked at by the Jets is this: