March madness was not so kind to the Winnipeg Jets. In the last game of the month against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Winnipeg Jets were officially eliminated from playoff contention in a 3-2 OT loss. Lightning forward Steve Stamkos buried his NHL-leading 56th goal to give the Bolts the victory. The loss puts the Winnipeg Jets in 10th place in the Eastern Conference and well behind the Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals who are still battling for the final playoff position.
In “must win” games at The MTS Centre against the Senators and the Rangers, the Winnipeg Jets failed to preserve thier strong home record and lost both games and saw their playoff chances dwindle to single digit percentages.
The Jets captain, Andrew Ladd had the following to say after that loss, “Our expectations were to be in the playoffs, and not being able to accomplish that goal is disappointing. So it’s our job to work to get better, to learn from what happened this year and make sure that doesn’t happen next year.”
“In our minds it does (feel like the season is a failure). I feel we had the group in here to get in the playoffs, and I’m sure everyone else did too. Long term we’re trying to build something that’s gonna be able to contend every year. That takes time, too, but that doesn’t make it any easier.”
On a more positive note, the Jets were able to get a five out of six possible points in their games against the Hurricanes, Lightning and the Panthers with three overtime games. The two wins against Carolina and Florida.
As a fan of the Winnipeg Jets for it’s inaugural 2011-12 season, I’m happy to see that we have hockey back in Winnipeg and hopeful that our team will make the necessary changes to become a playoff contender next year. The team returns to the comfortable confines of the MTS Centre on Saturday, April 7th for thier final game of the season for a rematch against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The only Canadian teams that will make the playoffs are the Ottawa Senators and the Vancouver Canucks.
