Two teams striving to snap long losing streaks face off Tuesday when the Vegas Golden Knights visit the Winnipeg Jets.
Vegas, which entered Monday’s action atop the Pacific Division with 46 points, has lost a season-high five straight games and has won just once in its last nine (1-5-3).
Things are even worse for the Jets as they open a five-game homestand.
Winnipeg has lost nine straight games and 12 of its last 13 games (1-9-3). The Jets, who went 56-22-4 and won the President’s Trophy last season with 116 points, enter Tuesday’s contest with just 34 points, fewest in the NHL, and are just 15-21-4 through 40 games. They’d have to go 41-1-0 the rest of the season to match last season’s record.
“It’s frustrating,” Winnipeg head coach Scott Arniel admitted following a 4-2 loss at Ottawa on Saturday. “I’m sure they are frustrated, and the coaching staff is frustrated.”
The good news for the Jets is despite the rough start, with half the season remaining they still are well within striking distance for a wild-card spot in the crowded Western Conference. They enter Tuesday’s game just nine points below the playoff line.
“We can’t hang our heads,” defenseman Dylan DeMelo said. “First and foremost, you’ve got to look internally at your own game and understand where you can be better all over the ice and start there, and everybody just try to bring the best they can be and try to turn this thing around.”
“I still believe that if we can ever get our complete 60-minute game together, that we can go on a run,” Arniel said. “Watching teams around the league going on runs, it is about putting that first one together and trying to build off it. You gotta play games in this league, you can’t mail them in. We are not going to let these guys quit and not come out and perform, but we need to do it from everybody for 60 minutes.”
Winnipeg will have to do it Tuesday without defenseman Logan Stanley, who picked up a one-game suspension on Sunday for his sucker-punch of Brady Tkachuk in the second period of Saturday’s loss.
This will be the final game of a three-game road trip for Vegas that began with a 4-3 loss at St. Louis on Friday and was followed by a 3-2 overtime loss at Chicago on Sunday.
Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy didn’t mask his feelings after the latest loss to a Blackhawks team that was playing without its two top centers in Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar.
“You’re halfway through the year, and enough’s enough,” Cassidy said. “If guys believe they’re a first-place team, a contender, enough’s enough. Start playing like one. … You gotta friggin’ hate losing at some point. The only way you’ll get back to winning is if you hate losing a little more.”
Brandon Saad and Mark Stone scored goals in the loss but the Golden Knights managed just 15 shots on goal, including only two over the third period and overtime. Meanwhile, Tyler Bertuzzi scored a hat trick for the Blackhawks, including the game-winner at 1:18 into overtime.
“Just seems more likely than not we’re kind of letting games slip away here, and those points are important,” Saad said. “I think we’re a confident group. We’re going to sometimes face a little adversity. I don’t think there’s any doubt in here. We’ve got a lot of really good players, a lot of guys who have had success, so it’s just a matter of time.”
Stone brings a four-game goal streak into Tuesday’s game.
–Field Level Media
