Inconsistent Jets attempt to find form vs. Wild (Feb 07, 2017)

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Will the real Winnipeg Jets please stand up?

That's the question on the minds of Winnipeg hockey fans as their team continues to tease them with inconsistent play.

One day, they're putting the finishing touches on their first three-game winning streak of the season -- a troika of victories over Chicago, St. Louis and Dallas. The next, they're sleep-walking through a clunker of a loss against the worst team in the league -- by far -- the Colorado Avalanche.

For a team gunning for one of the two wild-card playoff spots in the Western Conference, it's points like the two left on the table in Denver that has Jets fans wringing their hands.

Coach Paul Maurice told the Winnipeg Free Press his troops need to adopt a defense-first mindset if they're going to grind out wins on nights when they don't have their best stuff.

"We've got an awful lot of guys scoring goals feeling pretty good about their numbers and most of them, or all of them, didn't come to the National Hockey League as defensive players," he said.

"There's a theme running through our last games. We've played a different style of team so that the trading of chances is there, that defensively we've got lots of room to improve and appreciation for the quality of defense you need to play nightly can get better."

The Jets, in fact, are the only team in the NHL with four players with more than 40 points -- center Mark Scheifele (53) and wingers Nikolaj Ehlers (47), Blake Wheeler (46) and Patrik Laine (43). At the other end of the spectrum, they have given up 172 goals, worst in the league.

The Wild, meanwhile, come to town in the catbird's seat in the Central Division and riding a modest one-game winning streak, having beaten Vancouver on the weekend.

More importantly, they are also the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this spring, according to a pair of websites.

Hockey-Reference.com gives the Wild a 15.6 percent chance to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup at the conclusion of this year's playoffs, ahead of the Washington Capitals (13.5 percent), Columbus Blue Jackets (10.2) and defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins (10.2).

And Playoff Status, a website that updates playoff odds on a weekly basis, gives the Wild a 15 percent chance, ahead of the Caps (14), Penguins (12), San Jose Sharks (11) and Blue Jackets.

Posting a 12-game winning streak midway through the season tends to attract attention from odds-makers. It also helps to be consistent at both ends of the ice. The Wild are third in the NHL in goals per game at 3.33 (or a total of 172) and third in goals allowed at 2.29 (for a total of 119).

Wild coach Bruce Boudreau told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he's proud of the fact his team plays essentially the same way at home and on the road.

"There's no big difference," Boudreau said. "We don't play any bigger, we're not tougher at home. We skate. There's not a big change between our home game and our road game, and that's probably been one of the secrets to our success."