2 weeks Ago By Scott Billeck
We can argue whether it was the hit Logan Stanley laid, how it goaded Zemgus Girgensons into a costly instigator penalty or the goal that soon followed. But what cannot be argued is the game-changing impact that sequence of plays in the third period had on the Winnipeg Jets’ 7-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. Head coach Scott Arniel said post-game that it was a big moment that sparked the crowd and galvanized the Jets’ bench.
“And we knew what we had to do after that,” he added. This story has been written before, or at least a version of it. The 2016 first-rounder has a big game, and there’s renewed hope in his ability to produce impactful moments.
It hasn’t always worked out that way. Over the years, injuries have limited Stanley, and his consistency when healthy has ebbed and flowed. So, what’s different this time around? Arniel and his coaching staff believe that his performance Sunday can be replicated more regularly, so they have given Stanley a run of games here for him to land on what everyone saw on Sunday.
Before the fight, there was his first goal of the season. What stood out was the activation. Stanley saw a soft bit of ice and moved into it, collecting a pass from Nikolaj Ehlers in the high slot before using a screen to bury his wrist shot.
His fight wasn’t staged, either. No helmet was held high in the air to proclaim a moral victory. He laid a solid, hard, clean open ice hit on Lightning forward Luke Glendening, then beat up on Girgensons, who took exception.
Stanley played the part of a bully. While that’s frowned upon by societal standards, in hockey, it’s an intangible thing with tangible benefits. Think of menaces such as Matthew Tkachuk or Brad Marchand.
More importantly, Arniel wants that, and his team could use more of it. “Get after the skill,” Arniel said. “Get after their players.
Make them retaliate, whether it’s that penalty, or to get slashed or punched or something. In that case (on Sunday), we draw 17 minutes.” By the time Girgensons saw the ice again, the Jets had the game in the bag.
And in a game in which the Lightning were without the earlier-injured Brayden Point and landed in Winnipeg already thin on depth, the loss was felt all the more. Stanley found the game his coaches knew was there. That style of play would be difficult for Arniel to overlook when making roster decisions.
This is where Winnipeg’s new coaching staff needs to take over. Paul Maurice and his regime couldn’t sort it out. Rick Bowness didn’t have much luck, either.
Now, it’s Arniel’s turn at the helm. “He just has to play that game where he intimidates the opposition and people don’t want to go near his side of the ice, hopefully, and they want to maybe go somewhere else,” Arniel said. “That’s how you build that reputation and that sort of identity.
” Stanley needs to figure out how to do that seven or eight times every 10 games rather than two or three. That’s his role here. For the 15:33 he’s seeing each game on average this season, he needs to play bully ball, to borrow a term often used to describe how the Winnipeg Blue Bombers do it.
It doesn’t mean he has to go hunting for an earth-shattering hit or a dance partner to chuck knuckles with every night. Stanley just needs to play a clean defensive game and, as he said himself after the game, take advantage of those game-changing moments when they present themselves. It’s important to point out that for all the criticism Stanley garners — made easier this season due to Hadyn Fleury’s solid play in the four games he played — he’s played pretty tidy.
The Jets haven’t been out-attempted with him on the ice and have only been marginally outshot. More importantly, the team is outscoring their opposition 6-1 when he’s out there. It’s easy to argue that the Jets are simply victims of the sunk-cost fallacy, that they keep trying to make it work having invested so much.
Games like Sunday’s show why Winnipeg has kept the faith. scott.billeck@kleinmedia.
ca X: @scottbilleck.
