Bowness peeved by Jets' start despite win: 'I'm not a babysitter'
The Winnipeg Jets overcame another slow start to beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Sunday, but head coach Rick Bowness didn't feel like showering his team with praise.
"It's just not right to start a game like that. Listen, I'm the head coach, so I'm responsible for the way we start and getting our team prepared, so that starts with me," he said postgame. "The second thing is: I'm not a babysitter, these guys are men, they're professionals, and they're paid to show up ready to go to work. My job is to make that happen.
"The third thing on that would be: You cannot play this game without passion, without emotion. You cannot play this game on your (heels) and I hate when we're on our (heels)."
Winnipeg surrendered the first goal of the contest with just under five minutes remaining in the opening frame when Jakob Silfverberg scored right after the Ducks' power play expired.
The ice was extremely tilted in Anaheim's favor during the first period: The Ducks outshot the Jets 18-7 and controlled 73.3% of the shot attempts, 71.4% of the scoring chances, and 78.9% of the expected goals at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Brett Leason would make it 2-0 for the Ducks early in the middle frame, but the Jets ultimately scored five unanswered goals while outshooting Anaheim 33-12 in the final two periods.
The victory came two days after the Jets fell 4-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Winnipeg gave up two goals in each of the first two periods and didn't get on the board until Pierre-Luc Dubois scored late in the third frame.
"So we had a bad game on Friday and everyone's saying all the right things yesterday, but words mean nothing to me. They mean nothing," Bowness said Sunday. "All I want to see is action. I just want to see passion and emotion in the way we play. Right or wrong ... we'll figure the rest out."
Winnipeg is 15-7-1 on the season, but Bowness said he and his staff are still getting to know the players.
The Jets have been outscored 22-15 in the first period this season but own a positive goal differential in the second and third frames.