ANALYSIS: All-star break might be just what Jets need – Winnipeg

The all-star break can’t come soon enough for Jets coach Rick Bowness. You can hear it in his voice.

Thursday night’s loss to Buffalo wasn’t really the best example of the progress that this team has made since October. This was a loss that you can’t blame on the volume of road games this team has played recently. You certainly can’t blame Connor Hellebuyck — he was his solid self with 33 saves.

This was a loss based on stubbornness. You heard it from the man after the game. The top six forwards, having done yeoman’s work for most of the season, are going to get a talking-to before the Jets play Philadelphia on Saturday. But I suspect it will hardly be the tongue-lashing, fire-and-brimstone-style talk we assume most coaches in the NHL do every once in a while.

Bowness will be direct, simple and effective. Kind of like the hockey he wants this team to play.

Put pucks on the net. If it creates a rebound in front of the net, great! If it goes in, even better.

The simple answer is to create chaos for the opposition in their zone. And last night, with just 21 shots on goal, that’s not enough.

It’s been a message repeated countless times in 16 weeks, but in my opinion, having the coach say it one more time mid-way through the season might fall on deaf ears. Or, as the coach said, stubbornness.

Perhaps the best thing for this team is just to have a break — from each other, from the grind of an 82-game season, from another practice. Two games to go before the break — a break that might just be best thing for this team.

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RAW: Winnipeg Jets Rick Bowness Interview – Jan. 26

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