Losing players like Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine in the first game of a series makes moving onto the next round no easy task.

But as they should have, the Jets had confidence in their room, and in the abilities of the guys left on the ice.

Adversity had been something they battled through all season long.

However, for the Jets, the confidence in themselves never really translated into success on the ice, dropping their best-of-five qualifying series with the Calgary Flames in four games.

“There’s nothing left in the tank. Our team left it all out there. “It was a year that was a test from day one,” said captain Blake Wheeler. “I couldn’t be more proud of this team. Realistically there are plenty of opportunities for us to fold it in and chalk it up to a lost season and move on to next year.”

Without the offensive punch Scheifele and Laine bring to the table, the Jets struggled to mount any offense, scoring just six goals in four games, including three combined goals in their three losses.

“I think the best way to sum it up is ‘a whirlwind.’ You work so hard, you put in the time and the effort to try and put your best foot forward under these difficult circumstances,” said Adam Lowry who led the team with three postseason points.

“And I think we all did that, there’s no one hanging their head in our locker room. We had some really tough circumstances we were faced with, and we came out and played really hard.”

Although the ending wasn’t the one the Jets were hoping for, it was a season that the Jets can look back on and be proud of.

From the names they lost during the offseason—Tyler Myers, Dustin Byfuglien—to the ones they lost in the regular season—Brian Little— and the ones they lost in the series, the Jets took adversity head on and should be able to carry what was built this season into 2020-21.

With that being said, despite a bright future head for the Jets, it doesn’t make the pain of their season coming to an end any easier to deal with.

“So the feeling we have now is complete emptiness. The payoff is nothing. Other than we’ll find it in a couple of weeks, a couple of months, the growth of some of these young men that will learn to be stronger, heavier players in the playoffs and will develop,” said head coach Paul Maurice.

After the loss in Game 4, Maurice revealed that Scheifele’s injury was indeed an Achilles’ injury, while Laine’s issue was a sprain in his left hand.

The Jets also did not have the services of Mason Appleton in any of their contests following their Game 1 loss. It was a shoulder injury that kept Appleton out of the lineup.

“We don’t think there are long term concerns. Mark finished kinda with a second opinion today. We don’t think there is any Achilles damage, so he’ll heal. Patrik sprained his hand and it’s his top hand on his stick so he couldn’t hold his stick. Mason Appleton suffered a shoulder injury,” Maurice said.

“But none of those are long term. But they are all two or three weeks minimum. I really shouldn’t say that about Mark because we need to get more imaging done with Mark but we think with Patrik and Mason that it’s a two or three week injury.”

Even in the loss, Game 4 was one of the better efforts the Jets gave in their brief four-game bubble stay in Edmonton. But on a night where Flames goalie Cam Talbot was as good as he’s been all series long, nothing seemed to go the Jets way on the offensive side of the puck.

"Quite frankly, sometimes the puck needs to bounce the right way too. You factor all those things in, losing two of your top offensive players, it's a grind. They allowed us to move the pucks back to our defensemen, and from there they just collapsed,” said Wheeler. “Whether it was blocking shots from the point or us not doing a good enough job of getting in the goaltender's eyes."

The Jets season was just as unique as the 2019-20 season was as a whole thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the shutdown of the league in March and the NHL’s return-to-play format.

"It starts from July 1 last year to August 6. I've never had a group go through what this group has gone through. The loss of key people and the injuries on top of that," said Maurice. "I thought tonight looked like our season. They played as hard as they could. They truly did."

Much like the 2019-20 season, the 2020-21 season is going to look and feel much different than seasons past.

The Jets hope their battle with the injury bug is one they can win this time around

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