The land of opportunity is a complex ecosystem.

As the Winnipeg Jets get set to face the Dallas Stars in Game 2 of the second-round series on Friday night, there is a level of urgency that is required.

A 3-2 loss in Wednesday’s opener means that the Jets need to raise their collective level to avoid falling into a 0-2 hole before the series shifts deep into the heart of Texas.

Fred Greenslade / THE CANADIAN PRESS The Winnipeg Jets emphasized a game-by-game mentality Thursday after dropping Game 1 of their second-round series against the Dallas Stars at home on Wednesday.

“It’s more important that we get back to playing how we expect to play ourselves,” said Jets captain Adam Lowry, noting there were points in Game 1 when his team put forth the characteristics that allowed them to enjoy a great deal of success over the course of the campaign. “Then, there were other points and other instances that we were really just having a lot of self-inflicted plays that were hurting us.

“It’s an important game. We want to at least get the split here at home before you head out on the road.”

That Lowry wasn’t about to overreact to a single loss should come as a surprise to no one.

His ability to dissect situations and keep an even keel is a big part of the reason he’s the undisputed leader of this group, though his ability to ensure everyone on the roster has a voice that will be heard is another important part of the equation.

Lowry was quick to swat away a question about the importance of avoiding falling into an 0-2 hole on home ice.

“Regardless of the outcome (Friday), the series isn’t over,” said Lowry. “You’ve got to go from game to game, look at the things you can improve on, look at the things you do well and then try and implement them in the next game.

“Dallas is a great team at home. So are we. It’s hard to win in the other team’s building. And we want to take care of what we can and hopefully put ourselves in a good spot to go into Dallas feeling good and in a better spot in the series.”

It’s the first time in four playoff series the Jets didn’t win the opener, though they lost two of those, so they’re leaning more on the ability they’ve shown over the course of the season to regroup and rebound, rather than anything else.

“For us, there’s some frustration because we know we didn’t play our best game,” said Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo. “But it happened in the first round and we were able to move on and attack the next day with a fresh mindset and go after it. That’s kind of the ebbs and flows from the playoffs and being able to learn from our mistakes from last game, try to take it into the next game and move on because Game 2 is obviously a critical game for us. We want to tie this thing up at 1-1 and the encouraging thing is we do have a lot better. We still did a lot of good things, too. We can’t lose track of that.

“You don’t want to be down 2-0. But at the end of the day, you don’t win the series after (Friday’s) game. You’d like to get it, obviously. There’s going to be urgency from our side to get it done. But, knock on wood, God forbid we lose, we can’t hit the panic button and start freaking out.”

Freaking out isn’t a trait the Jets have built their foundation on, nor do they plan to incorporate it at this stage of the proceedings.

With the benefit of sleeping on it and sorting through the day-after video session, the Jets were emphasizing the need to have better execution and coming through with a crisper start.

Despite scoring first on a marker from Nino Niederreiter early in the second period, the Jets gave up the first eight shots on goal of the contest before eventually turning the tables and finishing the first period stronger.

“Sometimes the simple play is the effective play and the right play,” said Lowry. “When the plays are there, you still have to make them. There is a directness to our game when we are at our best. For whatever reason, we didn’t have that at the start.”

Another thing the Jets didn’t have in the series opener was top defenceman Josh Morrissey, who missed the game with a suspected shoulder injury.

Morrissey was among a small group of players on the ice on Thursday and continues to progress.

Jets head coach Scott Arniel is encouraged by the progress Morrissey is making, though he wouldn’t commit to anything other than his playoff standard “game-time decision” declaration.

The Stars are also getting close to welcoming top blue-liner Miro Heiskanen, who finds himself in the day-to-day category as he works his way back from a knee injury he suffered in late January.

A Game 1 victory by the Stars provides a chance to take a commanding series lead, though they recognize it also figures to bring out the best in their opponent.

Fred Greenslade / THE CANADIAN PRESS Winnipeg Jets’ Mark Scheifele (55) and Gabriel Vilardi (13) look for the rebound against the Dallas Stars Wednesday at Canada Life Centre.

“Your desperation level always goes up after you lose a game,” Stars head coach Pete DeBoer told reporters on Thursday. “They’re not going to want to lose two at home, so their desperation level is going to go up. We have to make sure that ours is comparable.”

Desperation levels, much like scar tissue, are difficult to measure — both individually or for a team. Even if the impact each of those items can have on an outcome is easy to identify.

So while the Jets should see some benefit of this building of calluses that has been ongoing, this round they’re up against an opponent that has accumulated plenty of their own.

Those results — and occasional heartbreaks — include three trips to the conference final during the past five seasons, with the loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup final in 2020 stinging the most.

So for as much as we’ve been hearing about the difference in physical play or style for the Stars compared to the Blues, the experience factor is also at play.

Whereas the Blues were back in the post-season dance for the first time in three seasons, the Stars are in for a fourth consecutive spring — and they’ve got some unfinished business of their own to sort through after losing to the Edmonton Oilers in six games in the Western Conference final last June.

You’re seeing years of working to be structurally sound and digging into the details at play from both the Jets and the Stars.

You’re also seeing two teams that required frenzied third-period comebacks to avoid an early summer vacation.

The Stars earned the leg up in responding to the euphoria — not from a dominating performance, but from a steady one.

In what was mostly an even game, they got a superhuman performance from Mikko Rantanen, strong goaltending from Jake Oettinger (30 saves) and won the special-teams battle 1-0.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

The Warm-Up

Winnipeg Jets Game Days

On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.

Sign up for The Warm-Up

When teams get down to the final eight, these games are often decided by the slimmest of margins.

“They handled it better than we did,” said Arniel, referring to riding the emotional high of respective Game 7 victories. “That’s a lesson learned. Be good with our details. The other thing for me is how much time we had with the puck, that we didn’t realize it. We got rid of pucks faster than we needed to. I like to think we’re a pretty good puck possession team, especially on the attack and in the O-zone.

“It was a hot potato at times. In the third period, we got better at it, but we needed to do it at the start. We need to have that confidence that we’re going to go out and make plays and make Dallas defend us.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld

Ken Wiebe Reporter

Ken Wiebe is a sports reporter for the Free Press, with an emphasis on the Winnipeg Jets. He has covered hockey and provided analysis in this market since 2000 for the Winnipeg Sun, The Athletic, Sportsnet.ca and TSN. Ken was a summer intern at the Free Press in 1999 and returned to the Free Press in a full-time capacity in September of 2023. Read more about Ken.

Every piece of reporting Ken produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.