Jets cap off 2015 with a 4-2 loss to Coyotes

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This article was published 31/12/2015 (3640 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GLENDALE, AZ — Paul Maurice and his Winnipeg Jets brought in 2016 in a very cranky mood.

The Jets fell 4-2 to the Arizona Coyotes in front of 14,027 at Gila River Arena, extending their road losing streak to six games. Winnipeg has also won just once in its last 12 games away from MTS Centre.

The difference was two third-period power-play goals by the Coyotes, who capitalized on some undisciplined penalties by the Jets. So that trend for this hockey team will carry over into the New Year, too.

The Coyotes finished 2-for-5 with the man advantage while the Jets were O-for-3. Winnipeg hasn’t had a road power-play goal during the six-game skid away from home, going 0-for-18 in the process.

The Jets fell below .500 again, dropping to 17-18-2 after wins over Pittsburgh and Detroit earlier in the week and are now a puny 6-13-1 on the road.

POINT THE FINGERS AT…

Oliver Eckman-Larsson potted the winner with 7:25 left and Tyler Myers in the box after he was nailed for a roughing penalty at the Coyotes blueline after having his stick knocked out of his hands and then leaning into Tobias Rieder with a glancing elbow that nonetheless dropped the Arizona forward like he’d been shot.

That came after Andrew Ladd drew a cross-checking penalty on Eckman-Larsson in the offensive zone as time expired at the end of the second, leading to Viktor Tikhonov’s goal just 1:18 into the third.

Both Myers and Ladd owned up to the infractions afterward, for what that’s worth.

“It doesn’t really matter what my opinion on it was. I shouldn’t have thrown my arm out there,” said Myers. “It was a bad penalty to take, I’ll be the first to admit it.

“I didn’t think I hit him that hard, but I hit him enough that he drew a penalty. If I don’t throw my arm out there at all, it’s stays five-on-five. It’s a play I’d like back. I can’t do that.”

Said Ladd:

“I made contact with him in front of the net. I was coming around the net and he was skating back towards me and I guess he wasn’t happy. I got my stick, I guess, right on his pants and you saw the rest.”

Asked if he felt the Coyotes defenceman ‘went down easy’ Ladd added:

“Yeah, I did. Both of those penalties, we’ve got to keep our cool but on the flip side, there’s some honour to stay on your feet and not roll around on the ground.”

THE RANT

Maurice’s frustration — both with his players and the officiating — couldn’t have been clearer after the game. He spoke for one minute and 22 seconds, answering just the first question: ‘How tough is that to swallow after coming back from 2-2?’

Here is Maurice’s response, in its entirety:

“That was a difficult loss for us and it should be because we just dominated most of the game and couldn’t figure out the puzzle. You can’t touch them and you can’t dive and we couldn’t figure that out.

“I’m going to try and come up with a solution here in the next 24 hours because we somehow are expecting things to change every night. I don’t know if they’re looking for fairness or what the hell they expect is going to happen on the ice, but we’ve seen it enough. You can’t take the penalties that we took. You just can’t. You can bitch about the calls all you want, but if you’re sitting there expecting consistency or quality, you’re not coming to any of the games we play. We took those penalties. Ehlers dove on his… we got the call, that’s the call. If you expect them to go the other way then you haven’t been in the league long enough and we can’t figure that out.

“We took the penalties. We lost the game. We were far better than they were for most of the night. That’s the National Hockey League. That’s probably enough for you, you guys can chew on that for a couple of days.”

DOMI TO DOAN TO HISTORY

Shane Doan, the last of the Jets 1.0 era still playing, made history when he tapped home a Max Domi pass in the first period to become the franchise leader in career goals with 380, eclipsing Dale Hawerchuk.

That brought a rowdy cheer from both the Coyotes and Jets faithful in the building, even if it’s the kind of development that still rankles some fans who figure the 1.0 history should somehow belong to the 2.0 franchise.

Coyotes fans also showered the ice with hats before the game, honouring Doan for his hat-trick in Arizona last game. Just for good measure, Doan sealed the deal with his second of the night into an empty Jets net with 16 seconds remaining.

“Obviously the symbolism is pretty cool. I recognize that,” said Doan. “It was nice to get (the record-breaking goal) quickly and not have to dwell on it for awhile.

“We won the game, so that makes it a lot more enjoyable.”

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait