Jets May Need to Crank Up Afterburners

The Winnipeg Jets know they’re being pursued. They have felt it nearly every morning the last few weeks when they picked up the newspaper as the Mighty Ducks closed in on them.

The Ducks were at their heels again Tuesday, walking into the Jets’ hotel across from Reunion Arena a few hours before Winnipeg’s game against the Dallas Stars, the Ducks’ opponent Thursday. It was the last glimpse the Ducks and Winnipeg will get of each other before a final-game matchup April 14 at the Pond that both teams know could decide who makes the playoffs.

“We don’t want that game to matter,” said Winnipeg’s Keith Tkachuk, who scored four goals in an 8-2 victory over Dallas that pulled the Jets two points ahead of the Ducks for the final Western Conference playoff spot with nine games left. It’s hardly a two-team race, with Toronto three points ahead in seventh place and Edmonton two points behind the Ducks.

The focus, though, is on Anaheim and Winnipeg, largely because of the deal that has shaped the race, the Ducks’ Feb. 7 trade for former Winnipeg star Teemu Selanne.

With Selanne in a different uniform, the teams have gone in opposite directions, especially lately. Winnipeg has won only twice in its last nine games, and the Ducks won six games in a row and went on a club-record seven-game unbeaten streak that was halted Monday by Detroit, 5-1.

“Finally,” said Winnipeg defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky, one of the two players the Ducks sent to the Jets for Selanne. “They’re chasing us. We’d better start winning.”

Said Chad Kilger, the other Duck who went to Winnipeg: “They’ve been playing pretty well. I’ve seen some of the goals. They’re getting a lot of great breaks. We’ve had a rough battle the last couple of weeks. Their luck has been up; ours has been down.”

The Jets’ fortunes didn’t turn the moment they traded Selanne, then their leading scorer. They won five in a row during one stretch after the Feb. 7 trade.

But no matter the other factors, these numbers speak louder than any others: Since the day of the trade, Winnipeg has gone 10-11-1. The Ducks, 11 games under .500 on Feb. 7, have gone 11-8-2.

If the Ducks make the playoffs and Winnipeg doesn’t, Jet Coach Terry Simpson knows the judgment people will make.

“I’m sure they’re probably already doing it,” Simpson said. “Basically, I think it’s obvious to me this was a trade made weighted for the future. It’s just obvious if you look at the stats of the players. Our organization, before we did this, we talked about conviction and patience.

“The immediate concern is you lose your top gun. People have to understand, you’ve lost your top scorer.”

Selanne has been the catalyst of the Ducks’ run. But the Jets’ swoon has been caused by more than his absence. Most crucial have been recent injuries--including a back injury to third-leading scorer Alexei Zhamnov that the Jets discovered this week is worse than they thought.

Zhamnov isn’t even with the team. Instead, he went to Los Angeles on Monday to be examined by Dr. Robert Watkins, who has told the team an inflamed nerve will keep Zhamnov out until the last two or three games of the season, at best.

One of the reasons the Jets parted with Selanne was that, despite having three expensive young offensive stars in Selanne, Tkachuk and Zhamnov, they kept missing the playoffs. Selanne’s contract made him the most marketable of the three--but now the Jets are in danger of missing the playoffs without Selanne and without the injured Zhamnov.

The Jets are also without center Eddie Olczyk, a 25-goal scorer who is out at least two more weeks because of a sprained knee. Defensemen Craig Muni and Norm Maciver have recently returned from injuries, and Tkachuk sat out two games because of an NHL suspension for high-sticking Toronto’s Dave Ellett. The arrival of Craig Janney in a trade with San Jose is the only thing close to good news lately.

“We’ve just had a little bad luck with injuries. It’s been difficult some nights,” Tkachuk said. “The bottom line is we’ve been inconsistent and we’ve got to work harder.

“We control our destiny. It’s up to us. We’re in position to make the playoffs. If we win our last 10, we’re in the playoffs.”

And if it comes down to the last game of the season, there will be three players who want to score the game-winner more than anything: Selanne, Kilger and Tverdovsky.

“I’m looking forward to that game in Anaheim,” Tverdovsky said. “But we want to make sure that game is not going to mean anything. They’re playing pretty good at home.”

Hockey Notes

Winnipeg defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky, the former Duck player whose mother was rescued after being kidnapped in an extortion attempt in Ukraine last month, said he will return to the former Soviet Union despite the incident but does not want his parents to. “I have a lot of friends in Moscow. It’s not so small there. It’s a big city and you can get lost among all the people,” Tverdovsky said. “[But] I don’t think they are going to go again. I’m trying to do something with their visas so they can stay all year.”

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Collision Course?

On Feb. 7, the Winnipeg Jets traded Teemu Selanne to the Mighty Ducks for defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky and center Chad Kilger. Now the teams are battling for the final Western Conference playoff spot with nine games left. The teams could be headed for a final-game showdown April 14 at the Pond. A look at the Jets and Ducks since the trade:

WINNIPEG JETS

* Record in Last 10: 3-6-1.

* Record Since Teemu Selanne trade: 10-11-1.

* Games Remaining: Three home, six away: March 27, at Colorado; March 29, at Edmonton; March 31, at Calgary; April 3, Dallas; April 6, Calgary; April 8, at St. Louis; April 10, at Detroit; April 12, Kings; April 14, at Anaheim.

* Key Injuries: Center Alexei Zhamnov, back spasms, two weeks; center-right wing Ed Olczyk, sprained knee, two to three weeks.

ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS

* Record in Last 10 Games: 6-2-2.

* Record Since Teemu Selanne trade: 11-8-2.

* Games Remaining: Five home, four away; March 28, at Dallas; March 31, at San Jose; April 3, Edmonton; April 5, Detroit; April 7, at San Jose; April 8, Vancouver; April 10 at Colorado; April 12, Dallas; April 14, Winnipeg.

* Key Injuries: None.