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Noel exasperated by ‘demoralizing’ Jets power play

Winnipeg Jets v Colorado Avalanche

DENVER, CO - DECEMBER 27: Head coach Claude Noel leads the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center on December 27, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

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After going 0-for-5 with the man advantage during Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Colorado, Winnipeg now finds itself with the NHL’s fifth-worst (11.8 percent) power play.

For head coach Claude Noel -- who saw the unit finish dead last (13.8 percent) last season -- enough is enough.

Noel went on a lengthy complaint during last night’s postgame scrum. Video’s below, but here are the transcribed highlights:

“The power play’s getting old, but these are the same players that we had last year. I think what we’re proving is there’s a reason why we were last last year.

“At the end of the day, we don’t make the greatest decisions. We don’t execute, and this is the same stuff we lamented about before. We all know and you guys know it ended up costing us the game. We were 0-for-5. It cost us the game, because it’s a momentum-killer.

“It’s like shooting yourself in the foot over and over. It does a lot of things to you, and none of it’s positive. It demoralizes you, takes momentum away and it adds frustration.”

Sounds awesome!

As mentioned, here’s the clip. The good stuff starts around 2:20.

One has to wonder how much longer Noel has in Winnipeg. The Jets are off to another uneven start (5-6-2) despite the fact they’ve played eight of their first 13 games at home.