When the Winnipeg Jets face the Utah Mammoth on Sunday in Salt Lake City, both teams enter the matchup looking to improve their position in the Western Conference standings.
Winnipeg has struggled over the last month, with just three victories in its last 15 games.
The Jets are coming off a 3-2 loss to the first-place Colorado Avalanche on Friday night. While the effort showed improvement, the result meant two more lost points in the standings. After a 9-3-0 start to the season, Winnipeg now sits two points out of last place in the league.
“There was a lot more battle, a lot more compete. … That was a better effort than the last one,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said after Friday’s defeat in Denver. “But we’ve got to find a way to get over that hump of winning those games. Right now, we’re a delicate, fragile group and we’re finding ways to lose games.”
Slow starts have been a recurring issue for Winnipeg. Against Colorado, the Jets again allowed two first-period goals to put themselves in a hole. Winnipeg is 2-13-1 when giving up the first goal and has been outshot by 30 in opening periods this season.
“Just kind of put yourself in a tough spot, that’s a tough team to chase,” said Jets forward Morgan Barron. “Yeah, gotta find a way to not put ourselves in those holes. … That’s the frustrating part, it’s kind of been our Achilles heel… if it’s a one-goal game, we just can’t kind of find that extra juice to squeeze two points out of it.”
Sunday’s game is important for both teams. The Jets trail Utah by five points in the standings, but they have three games in hand. Both clubs are currently outside the playoff picture, though the Mammoth are tied on points with San Jose for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Utah has fallen out of a playoff position since losing forward Logan Cooley to a lower-body injury sustained against Vancouver on Dec. 5. Cooley is not expected to return to the lineup before February.
The Mammoth dropped three consecutive games following his injury, but since have shown signs of recovery. Utah has won three of its last five games despite a 2-1 loss Friday at home to the New Jersey Devils.
“We did a lot of good stuff,’ said coach Andre Tourigny on Friday. “Dominated scoring, chances, shots, things like that. But, at the same time… we had an opportunity to put the game away when we had the lead and could not score the big goal or take advantage of our opportunity.”
Close contests have been a calling card for Utah this season, but the Mammoth are near the bottom of the league in one-goal games. They’re just 7-6-3 in those situations.
“One play kind of makes a difference,” said Utah forward Alexander Kerfoot on the defeat to New Jersey. “We had some looks… tie it up, but I thought overall, it was a pretty good hockey game, but they just made one more play than we did.”
–Field Level Media
