"No One is Going to be Throwing us a Lifesaver" - Jets Fall to 13-12-0

The Winnipeg Jets have done it again.

After finding a way to grind out a win amid a tough stretch, the team that won the 2024-25 Presidents' Trophy as the best club in the league has found another way to fall flat on its face.

This time, it was by way of Buffalo.

Not a raging buffalo or charging bison, but by a well-calculated attack from a team that the Jets saw coming.

"We showed video, did our pre-scout of their last three games," a flabbergasted head coach Scott Arniel said following Monday's 5-1 dust up to the Sabres.

"How many opportunities they get off their rush, their four-man rush with the D. Whether that's stubborn or whether that's not being quick enough, not reading the situation fast enough, yeah. We kicked ourselves in that one. We gave up all of those rush opportunities and they capitalized on them."

So, essentially, the Jets knew what they were walking into and still fumbled the bag?

"They saw lots of video on it. They saw them doing it and we talked about it. They're real good at it. They've got six D that move pretty well but they've got four that can really go and we're getting beat up the ice shift after shift."

Arniel wasn't the only one displeased with the Jets' lacklustre effort on Monday. In fact, he was taken by surprise when captain Adam Lowry called a players only meeting moments after the final horn.

"They had their own meeting. That was Lows," Arniel said, referencing his captain.

"Sometimes it happens and you don't know it. Maybe it's after I speak to them. But tonight that was them. That was Lows taking it. You're hoping that the response into our next game is a lot better than what it was tonight. We're a veteran group, we recognize that we just embarrassed ourselves and we're going to have to be a heck of a lot better in the next one."

Winnipeg was outshot 31-24 on the night and outscored 5-1 in a game to which Eric Comrie was pulled for the start of the second period, in favour of the young Thomas Milic.

Yeah, definitely at times. A couple breakaways, two-on-ones. If you're giving up one, maybe two, in a game, you're still looking at how to prevent those. You don't want to give up any. We gave up quite a handful.

"It's tough, and obviously Eric's been great every time his number's been called this year," a beleaguered Kyle Connor said. "And having the start in front of him that we did, it's frustrating. There's not a more hardworking player, goalie, than Eric. He puts in the work. He's great, and even Milly, too, he's been great."

"It's tough to have those guys step in and try to fill a void and not kind of give them that structure, and the shots, keep to the outside and the boxing out that they typically see. And maybe they get one or two high-danger chances. That's when they're there, they're feeling good, they have momentum. To start games, they're facing Grade A's, and it's got to be frustrating as a goalie, for sure."

The Jets gave up back-to-back goals to make it 2-0 in a span of 15 seconds in the first period. They finished the opening 20 down 3-0. It was all downhill from there.

"We will have to go back and look at it, individually," defenceman Dylan DeMelo said. "You know, you go look at your shifts and see what you could have done better. I am sure the staff will have some things for us to look at and go from there.

"We can’t hang our heads, we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. No one is going to be throwing us a lifesaver here and helping us out. We’ve got to figure it out. We have a big game against the Habs. Hopefully we can get that one and get that good feeling back again.”

The Jets are now 13-12-0 and sit 25th in the league, overall - a far cry from their first-place spot at this time last year.

Next up on the five-game road trip is a test with the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday. Winnipeg is 1-3-0 on the trek and has lost five of its last six games. The same Sabres roll into town on Friday for a rematch with the Jets in the second half of an elongated home-and-home. The Jets could officially be sitting below .500 on the season after that game.