On Wednesday, that flag rose to full mast thanks to a jaw-dropping admission by head coach Rick Bowness, who along with his coaching duties, appears to be taking on the role of psychologist as well.
“I’ve gotta get more out of them,” Bowness said after being asked if he needs more commitment out of his top players.
Bowness turned the question on the reporter.
“Who motivates you when you wake up in the morning,” he asked.
“Myself,” the reporter responded.
“There you go. That’s what we’re dealing with,” he said, pulling aside the curtain, providing a glimpse at the heart of the team.
“That’s part of our job, is to stay on top of them and to keep pushing them and don’t let them get into a comfort zone and don’t let them back off. Sometimes you’re doing that and you’re not even aware you’re doing it. So it has to be shown, has to be talked to, has to be addressed. We’ll keep pushing, and then the rest is on them.”
Bowness could only repeat himself.
“Yup. That’s what we’re dealing with,” he said.
The frustration Bowness wears on his face these days is as palpable as the inconsistency his team displays on the ice each night.
He’s tossed a lot at the walls, hoping something would stick. Little has. And what’s left at his disposal may only make things worse.
The Jets were in first place in the Western Conference based on points percentage on Jan. 14, just over two short months ago.
That’s not exactly the recipe for ramping up into playoff form.
Bowness’s Jets are still looking for a full 60-minute effort, or for their players to simply shoot the puck on an odd-man rush, or score on a power-play that’s spun its tires on a season-long 0-for-19 run over its past five games.
That looks nothing like fellow playoff protagonists such as the Colorado Avalanche, who have won six straight games as of Wednesday, or your choice of the Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles Kings or Edmonton Oilers — each with eight wins in their past 10 games.
They cobbled together a 2-0 lead in a solid first period on Tuesday against the desert dogs only to follow it up with a complete dud in the second period, outshot 18-3.
“It was huge to get the win, but overall, the game wasn’t how it’s supposed to look like,” Nino Niederreiter said.
Nate Schmidt echoed that.
“It’s a win, and truthfully, I don’t know if you can look at it as anything else. Two points in the bank.”
Still, nothing about Winnipeg’s play as of late is conducive to playoff success.
But at this point, the club seems to have bigger issues.
“This is the group we have,” Bowness said. “Our job is to make sure that they know what we look like and how we’re supposed to play. Now, the commitment to do that for 60 minutes has to come from them. So if we’re sitting there patting them on the back… the coaches are wrong. So we address it and what we always do is we move on.”
There was no back-patting on Wednesday, only a shocking view into the state of the team.
