Afterburners On... Maybe

Watching the Jets pull one out over the New York Rangers tonight brought a smile to my face for all of a second. Not long after, it brought up the question that's as old as the Jets tenure in Winnipeg, asked every time they show any signs of life. Have the Winnipeg Jets, winners of three of their last four and gainers of points in all four, finally turned a corner, or are they just doing what they do every year? Are they finally maturing under head coach Paul Maurice or are they toying with the emotions of their fans with their usual streaky play before sliding comfortably into their usual spot just outside spitting distance of the playoffs?

Answer: insufficient data.

The Jets, after all, do this every year, making their fans wonder if the maturation process and patience that the Jets brass are always talking about have finally worked the magic Kevin Cheveldayoff insisted they eventually would. During these stretches, these hopeful, glorious stretches where it seems there's no team the Jets can't skate with or even out skate, where every player seems to be doing exactly what we know they're capable of doing, a sense of invincibility envelops the team. The fans come into every game cheering louder than ever, knowing there team can pull one out against any odds, against any team. They know that our best can match up against there best. Wheeler is faster than anybody, Kane is stronger, Scheifele is slicker, Ladd works harder, Byfuglien is bigger, Trouba is meaner, and Pavelec is sharper than anyone the other teams can throw against them. The wins should start to roll in.

It's usually right about then that the team blows a game against a team they really ought to beat, and then it all falls limply apart like a Jenga tower which has just had a rug pulled out from under it. The sense of invincibility vanishes as if it was never there, leaving behind a feeling that the mind can remember but not duplicate. Wheeler seems slower and less coordinated, Byfuglien and Trouba lose their mean streaks, Scheifele gets pushed around, Kane shoots wide as often as he hits the net (or more) and Pavelec is woefully out of position. It gets a little crueller every time, because it always seems like the Jets are within inches of greatness for a few short games before it turns sour and bitter once again.

So which will it be this time, Jets? Do we turn on the afterburners or crash into a mountain? It's too early to tell of course, but if they could keep this momentum going it would sure be a breath of fresh air in this city's lungs, especially given the debacle that the bombers have been the latter half of this season. Every year in their preseason predictions the experts at TSN and Sportsnet and The Hockey News dump on the Jets mercilessly and relentlessly, and just once it would be nice to see the flight crew make those pundits eat their words.