‘Desperate times’: Flames fall further back in playoff race after Utah setback

The Flames’ hopes of keeping up with the Blues’ tenth win in a row were dashed by a crucial video review.

It seemed like it could easily have gone in their favour, but it didn’t.

Generally, getting swept in a season series against a non-divisional opponent doesn’t matter. 

Which explains why Winnipeg Jets coach Scott Arniel was taken aback when asked by a reporter if Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings was a measuring-stick game. 

He scoffed at the suggestion that his team needed to prove itself against the Kings.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” Arniel deadpanned to the reporter who mentioned that Winnipeg went 0-3 in games against Los Angeles this season. “We’re sitting on top right now. So, I don’t know if there’s a measuring stick. We don’t measure that way. We go about how we play hockey. How we go against each and every opponent.”

There’s something to be said about how Winnipeg has fared against teams cut from the same cloth as Los Angeles.

“They’re extremely stingy; they don’t give you a whole lot,” Arniel told reporters. “The type of team that if you make mistakes, they pounce on it. No, they’re real good. They clogged the middle of the ice. They play a lot like us, they take the guts of the ice away.”

The Jets spent most of the game in the Kings’ end, controlling 57.8 per cent of the five-on-five expected goals share. 

“(When) we have that much puck possession, we’ve got to attack the net a little bit more,” Arniel admitted to reporters. 

The Kings, St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights — three potential playoff opponents for the Jets — have consistently out-duelled the Jets in net-front opportunities. In eight games against those three teams, Winnipeg has generated 26 high-danger shots during five-on-five play and surrendered 54. The other underlying numbers under the hood paint a similar picture. 

Jets underlying five-on-five numbers against St. Louis, Los Angeles and Las Vegas:

Arniel has talked about the importance of creating chaos in front of the net, allowing his team to pounce on second and third opportunities. The Jets excel at sustaining offensive-zone pressure — especially off the cycle — but they need to do a better job of getting in front of goalies. Remember how much of a difference-maker it was for Colorado when it got in Connor Hellebuyck’s way last spring?

Now, give credit where it’s due — those aforementioned teams excel at locking down the slot. But we all know that come playoff time, even more goals are scored near the crease. And it’s that much harder to get into the blue paint in the post-season. 

Thursday’s tilt against Vegas — a team that has beaten the Jets in each of their two meetings this year — is their next measuring-stick game.

Stoller Says

• One too many moves from Jets defenceman Logan Stanley resulted in a goal against, with Andrei Kuzmenko stripping the puck in the neutral zone before scoring to give L.A. a 3-1 lead late in the second period. It goes without saying that the six-foot-seven defenceman can’t be trying to dangle opponents. While Stanley has been playing some of his best hockey lately, I still think Haydn Fleury gets the nod for Game 1 of the playoffs. Fleury isn’t leaps and bounds better than Stanley but he makes fewer mistakes and is more mobile, which is crucial in any partner complementing Luke Schenn on the Jets’ third pair. 

• Winnipeg didn’t generate a single shot attempt on the power play during its two power plays. The man-advantage has gone cold since the 4 Nations Face-Off break, the unit converting on just 16.3 per cent of its opportunities (26th). 

“Both units have to be better,” Jets forward Cole Perfetti told reporters after the game. “I mean, it’s not just on (the first unit), like (the second unit) had a minute on each one too and we didn’t execute. They’re obviously a good kill team, and they come with a lot of pressure, and we knew that. And again, it was execution. I don’t think it was a lack of effort or a lack of, we had the right intent and the right mindset. I think it was just we didn’t execute the plays they were coming and we didn’t move the puck fast enough.”

• Arniel said Schenn is day-to-day. The 35-year-old left morning skate early, which Winnipeg’s coac