A lot of things have gone right for the since Rick Bowness hastily took his chair in Vegas, calling the team out for a lack of pride against the after its five-game loss last season. “This series, we had no pushback,” Bowness said after Game 5 last May. “Their better players were so much better than ours. It’s not even close.” Advertisement Bowness was right to criticize that team. It didn’t have the answers and didn’t appear to have the on-ice fight to find those answers.
He emerged as the Jets’ leader when got hurt against Vegas, finishing his playoffs with a team-leading seven points in five games. Like most Jets, his game came crashing down in Game 5, contributing to a goal against in the game’s opening minute. It was the beginning of a game-long, team-wide collapse that Bowness called out in his postgame news conference.