Frustrated Jets have big, but not insurmountable hill to climb

It coursed through his downtrodden body and showed in his posture, his movements and poured out in his words as he scoured for answers.

Even through the laptop screen that beamed the postgame availability of Pierre-Luc Dubois over Zoom on Saturday, his frustration was palpable.

“It’s a disappointing loss, it’s three in a row on this trip and that schedule is going to get harder and harder,” Dubois said after Winnipeg’s 3-2 defeat to the Boston Bruins.

Twenty-two hours later, the Jets met Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, winners of four straight coming into the game, and five straight when Crosby scored the only goal in the shootout to put arguably Winnipeg’s best effort of the season on ice in another 3-2 loss.

This time, it was Connor Hellebuyck who sat behind the same mic, in the same seat and in front of the same backdrop. His exasperation was just as apparent.

“We need to start stacking up some wins, and I know we’ve got games in hand, but you run out of those quickly,” Hellebuyck said.

Hellebuyck’s effort was no different than his team’s. It was his best, given the set of circumstances he had to work with, and his 36 stops — many miraculous — provided the evidence you didn’t need to read to believe.

But even he has to be getting a little tired. He’s started 11 straight now, and 25 of Winnipeg’s past 27. He’s pulled this team through kicking and screaming before, but you can’t play him 75 games and expect him to be at his peak.

“I can only speak for myself and I know the coaches are doing everything they can to get us playing the right way and getting us buying in and getting this team game going,” Hellebuyck said. “I know everyone wants it in the locker room but for myself, I’m feeling the pressure.”

A season-defining fourgame road trip that produced just two out of a possible eight points did little to alleviate the stress.

The reality as it stands at the moment is the Jets are likely out of any race in the Central Division. Enterting play on Monday, they’re 12 points behind third-place St. Louis with two games in hand, and 14 points back with five games in hand on second-place Nashville.

The silver lining for, at least as of Sunday, is that they’re still very much in the wildcard race. They remain where they were when the road trip began — three points adrift of the San Jose Sharks, who are situated in that final playoff spot in the West.