ANALYSIS: Jets experience thrill of victory, agony of defeat

When I was a kid, a long, long time ago, every Saturday there was a sports anthology show, The Wide World of Sports, on television. I marveled every week when the great Jim McKay talked about “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat”.

And in a 72-hour period, the Jets and their fans experienced just that… the best and worst of what the NHL offers.

Losing is never fun. It’s not supposed to be. Winning, on the other hand, can be thrilling. Every time.

The thrill of that 8-1 victory against Boston on Tuesday was exactly what the Jets needed to get some level confidence back. And Thursday night, after 58 minutes of fun, edge-of-your-seat stuff… the Jets found themselves a miserable way to lose to Vegas.

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Silly mistakes, silly penalties erased a quality effort from the home team.

But as well as it appeared the Jets played Thursday night, never did you think the game was in control. Unlike Tuesday, when Winnipeg took control of the game versus Boston, and filled the net at will, the Jets were truly embroiled in a heavyweight battle against Vegas.

You could feel the intensity grow throughout the game — a style of hockey that fits the personality of the Golden Knights. A style of hockey that the Jets can learn from. In fact, I would suggest, that Scott Arniel’s team learned much, much more from the overtime loss than they did from the seven-goal victory.

What’s the old saying? “No pain, no gain”

There is little doubt that the Jets can play with the big boys — Vegas, Dallas, Edmonton — but playing at an elite level comes with pain. Agonizing pain. And it comes by being consistent and relentless and playing every minute of every game.

3:04 John Shannon on the Jets: Dec 11

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