ANALYSIS: Winnipeg Jets rebound from Detroit debacle

For as disillusioned with his team as head coach Scott Arniel was after Saturday’s loss to Detroit, his Winnipeg Jets certainly provided an appropriate response on Tuesday.

And frankly, there was no other choice for the club but to bounce back, as their season is getting very close to running out of racetrack and teetering on a forced implosion by management.

Sure, Winnipeg’s 4-3 win over New Jersey Tuesday night is a welcome result for a squad still sitting eight points below the playoff line, and may have delayed the inevitable by kicking the can down the road for at least another couple of nights.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

But what it also presented was a testament to everyone at this stage of this baffling season that there is no quit in a group that knows it has underachieved, underdelivered and underperformed for 52 games thus far.

Again, there is no other way to put it than that their playoff lifeline is on mechanical assistance with four games to go before the Olympic break and only five weeks away from the trade deadline.

And while it wasn’t pretty against the Devils, the Jets found a way to deliver a timely victory — a necessary injunction, if you will — before the team’s brass is truly forced to add a fresh coat of paint and some new furniture to the team’s roster.

Of course, the next challenge for the Jets is simply their next game – a massive test Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, one of the league’s hottest teams – leaving Winnipeg little time to enjoy their most recent two-point bounty.

And should the Jets rise to submit another appropriate response in that game too, they’ll again kick the can down the road for at least another couple of nights – because frankly, they have no other choice.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.