When the Edmonton Oilers visit the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night, both clubs will look to move on from disappointing results in their first games back from the holiday break.
In a rematch against their pre-Christmas opponent, the Oilers lost 3-2 to the host Flames on Saturday night, a game largely controlled by their cross-provincial rivals.
“Our start was a little slow and sluggish,” Oilers forward Andrew Mangiapane said after the setback in Calgary. “It’s a couple of days off, and all that you don’t want to use as an excuse because they’re going through the same thing. So I would have liked for us to have been a bit more engaged.”
Despite the result, Edmonton is still 8-3-1 over its last 12 games, a stretch that has propelled the team back into a playoff spot. However, head coach Kris Knoblauch remains focused on his team continuing to grow beyond their recent success.
“We weren’t as sharp as we were before the break,” said Knoblauch. “We gave up a lot of odd-man rushes, which we haven’t been doing, so we’ll have to get back to work. There were a lot of good things, but probably more bad than good coming off the break.”
The Jets hoped the Christmas break would help improve their game and lead to wins, but that didn’t happen on Saturday. Winnipeg gave up a power-play goal with 22 seconds left in regulation against and then allowed the overtime winner 39 seconds into the extra period, falling 4-3 to Minnesota at home.
Winnipeg is 7-14-4 since Nov. 1 and is currently on a five-game losing streak (0-2-3), with all five losses by just one goal. Adding to the frustration, the loss against Minnesota came despite one of the Jets’ most complete 60-minute efforts of the season.
“Nobody’s happy. Nobody’s happy about that. Nobody’s happy about losing. We wanted both points. We need both points. We didn’t get it,” coach Scott Arniel said after the loss, when asked if his team’s consistent effort at least eased some of the sting. “We’ve got to make sure, in those one-goal games, we’ve got to find a way. That one had a little bit of a different feel to it. That had a different outcome than maybe some of the past ones have had.”
Winnipeg is still in the playoff race, sitting five points out of the final wild-card spot. The Jets have two games in hand on San Jose and three on the Utah, the two teams tied for that final spot.
“It’s definitely frustrating. We’ve been working really hard to get over the hump and get back to our winning ways,” said Jets forward Jonathan Toews after Saturday’s loss. “(If) we keep playing that way, our bounces are going to come. We talked about really building that belief in our locker room… but we move on, we move onto the next one.”
With Tristan Jarry expected to miss a few more weeks with a lower-body injury, Edmonton has Calvin Pickard and Connor Ingram to choose from in goal Monday.
–Field Level Media
