Jets hope growing pains will pay off

Sometimes you have to lose before you can win.

Blake Wheeler agreed, as did Andrew Ladd, albeit reluctantly.

“It’s probably the best way of learning a lesson, to go through it and feel what we feel right now,” Ladd said. “It’s an empty feeling, you don’t know what to do. But you learn from it. You wish it wasn’t a part of the process, and wish it was a little easier, but not one said winning the Stanley Cup was an easy thing to do. I think we put our best foot forward.”

The team’s lack of experience peeked through the cracks during the late stages of each game. The Jets allowed nine third-period goals over the four-game sweep, including blowing three leads after 40 minutes in Games 1, 2 and 3.

“We don’t have a lot of experience in these types of situations and maybe that was a factor in some of those games we couldn’t close out,” Wheeler said. “But at the end of the day, as a group, the strides we took this year, in a few weeks we are going to look back and be pretty happy with where we are at.”

The mood in the room was a mix of disappointment and optimism. There’s a true sense from this group of players that the team is headed in a direction.

“We’re disappointed, don’t get me wrong, there is no feelings of being gratified right now,” Wheeler said. “But I think the way this organization looks right now compared to where it looked in September and October … we are going in the right direction.

“You got to be proud of the way a lot of guys played,” Ladd added. “Two young centremen (Mark Scheifele and Adam Lowry) who played big minutes for us and have bright futures in this game. Guys like that, they’ll learn from this and we will all be better next year.”

Meanwhile, Paul Maurice said the series wasn’t without its casualties. Maurice said that about eight of his players had significant injuries, with four of them suffered in the series, including broken bones.

“You never quit on a brother, you will do whatever you have to do for family,” Maurice said. “It’s a good learning experience for your room, because it sets a level of willingness.”

Maurice singled out his captain, saying that he could have elected for a procedure that would have rendered him out for two months.

“You need that from your captain, you need that guy in the room doing whatever he can to stay in. And he did,” Maurice said. “I’m never ever — and I’ve had some good ones, guys in the Hall of Fame — I’ll never, ever question his willingness, his grit and determination. He could have very easily come out of that lineup two-and-a-half months ago and nobody would have said a word to him.”