Winnipeg’s playoff hopes are currently on life support. They should have been non-existent to begin with, but this beautifully dumb team’s ability to survive just about anything has the Jets just a few points behind a Wild Card spot. Winnipeg will still miss the postseason in all likelihood, but they’ve got a chance to make a show of it along the way. Fans are going to turn that show off, though, if Winnipeg continues to play like it did against the Buffalo Sabres. The Jets still won 3-2 in a shootout, but the journey to victory was more like a bored trudge through cement. Here are some takeaways from a thoroughly mediocre effort.
Seven Takeaways
- Buffalo ran over the Jets for most of the evening. Just about every Winnipeg skater was swimming in quicksand, and the only reason the Jets pulled 2 points out was because of Hellebuyck.
- Speaking of Hellebuyck, the former Vezina winner might be starting to find his groove again. He’s looked pretty sharp in his last few starts.
- The Jets are getting next to no standings help, and should expect none going forward. If Winnipeg is to miraculously make the playoffs, the team will have to win on its own merit.
- Winnipeg has a bizarre tendency to look lethargic during high-pressure, high-stakes situations. With the season on the line, the Jets seemed to play casually and carelessly at times. Does this team truly believe in itself, or are the players ready to embrace the winds of change?
- That overtime line-up was also bizarre. Sanford-Wheeler-Dubois is not how I like my 3-forward arrangements to look. What were the Jets thinking there?
- The loss of Kyle Connor for the next few games is a dagger. Winnipeg has already had trouble finishing quality chances this season. Losing the team’s best goalscorer is going to make life hell.
- Tank Jets Tank!
