Jets lose to Canucks 4-1

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This article was published 30/01/2021 (1735 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On the surface, it certainly wasn’t ideal. But dig a little deeper and it looked as though the Winnipeg Jets might have had their opponent right where they wanted them.

Facing a 3-1 hole against the visiting Vancouver Canucks after two periods, the Jets needed a strong final 20 minutes if they hoped to salvage a pair of important points in the All-Canadian Division. It’s a situation they had been in before.  

In fact, heading into Saturday, four times the Jets had rallied back from behind to gut out a win, including trailing three times heading into the third period only to come out on top. Furthermore, Winnipeg had outscored its opponents 12-5 in the third period this season, with 10 of those goals coming in the previous three games.  

Oh, and the Jets had also defeated the Canucks in 10 straight games.  

Alas, absolutely none of that would matter. The Jets showed small bursts down the stretch but ultimately fell flat, the game ending in a 4-1 final and the Canucks heading out of town with a jump in their step.  

“I would think tonight was a bit unusual, in that we were much better in the first period than the score indicated. Those were our poorest back-to-back periods that we’ve had this year (the second and third). The only hard lesson in that one tonight is the team that worked the hardest won and that was right – they deserved to win that hockey game,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said.  “We’re not sitting in there saying ‘fellas, let’s just coast through the second and we’ll get to the third. That obviously is not what we’ve done.”  

Maurice added: “We got beat is the cleanest way to put it. After the first period, they were faster and they were harder and heavier on us and we didn’t move the puck well at all. But that’s not the story of the game. We had opportunities to win things and get it moving and we just didn’t.”  

With the loss, the Jets fell to 5-3-0 on the year. The Canucks extended their win streak to four games with the victory and are now 6-5-0.  

The Canucks wasted little time making their presence felt, earning a 1-0 lead just 29 seconds into the game. Brock Boeser accounted for the goal, taking a pass in the high slot from Alex Edler before deking out Connor Hellebuyck with a nifty move to the backhand.  

It would be short lived, however, as Winnipeg evened the score a little more than 90 seconds later with Mason Appleton’s first of the season. Appleton was asked earlier in the day, following the team’s morning skate, about his goal drought through seven games.   

It was something the 25-year-old downplayed, suggesting that given the number of quality chances he’d seen so far this season it was only a matter of time before one went in. So when the puck popped loose on an offensive zone faceoff, Appleton made no mistake. He pounced on the puck and ripped a shot over the glove of Thatcher Demko to make it a 1-1 game.  

It’s been a challenging start for Hellebuyck following last year’s Vezina-trophy winning season. The Jets net minder entered the game with a .906 save percentage and a handful of goals against he’d certainly want back.  

Then there’s the kind of dismal puck luck, like what happened on the Canucks’ second goal. What began as a battle behind the Jets net, ended up with the puck popping into the air, bouncing off the top of the netting and out front, where Nils Hoglander batted it in past an unsuspecting Hellebuyck. Just like that, the Jets trailed 2-1.  

“I saw a guy go behind the net, he made the pass back to the same side he came from, so I stopped and went post-to-post, and then the puck disappeared,” Hellebuyck said. “The next thing you know it’s in the back of my net. Couldn’t figure out the path until I saw the replay. Pretty strange events. But can’t change that.”  

Both sides seemed to settle into the game by the second period, with the flow going back and forth in the early stages. The Jets drew their first power play, with Bo Horvat called for holding. But while they were able to work the puck around the perimeter, they garnered few opportunities in close. 

“They collapsed low. Basically when we were able to get into the offensive zone, which was a bit of a challenge at times, they took away anything low,” Blake Wheeler said. “So we had to go low to high quite a bit. Just didn’t get enough traffic in front of their goalie to create some loose puck opportunities.” 

The Canucks would make it 3-1 6:58 into the period, this time with a nice deflection by Zack MacEwen off a Jordie Benn shot from the point. It was MacEwen’s first goal of the season, following a campaign last year that saw the undrafted player notch five goals in 17 games. 

Hellebuyck stood tall for the remainder of the period, saving the Jets from digging a bigger hole to climb out of. He robbed Elias Pettersson on a Grade A chance in front, and once again flashed the leather on Tyler Motte, who just moments later found was alone for what looked like a sure goal. 

The Jets goaltender was even better in the third period, making a number of quality saves on the penalty kill. But it was too little, too late for the home side.  

While the Jets outshot the Canucks 13-8 in the first period, Winnipeg mustered just 11 shots compared to Vancouver’s 31 through the final 40 minutes. The Canucks final shot on net was an empty-net goal from Boeser, putting the game on ice. 

“We got to give them credit for playing a good game. Maybe it’s just one of those nights where the puck wasn’t bouncing our way, maybe we weren’t all connected the same,” Hellebuyck said. “To be honest, I liked a lot of things in our game and we can’t depict this too much because we’ve got a lot of hockey to play with not a lot of time in between. We got to keep that confidence high and keep moving onto the next one.”  

The Jets move on to the fifth game of a current seven-game home stand, wrapping up the stretch with the first of four straight games against the Calgary Flames, beginning Monday. The Canucks continue their six-game road trip with back-to-back games against the Montreal Canadiens Tuesday and Thursday, before three straight versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton