Road-weary Jets fall to Preds 5-2

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This article was published 20/01/2022 (1326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NASHVILLE — The Winnipeg Jets are starting to look like a road-weary hockey team. And it led to a tough night in enemy territory against a rough-and-tumble Nashville club that beat them up on the scoreboard, then stole their lunch money for good measure.

Facing one of the NHL’s most physical and undisciplined clubs, it was the Jets who ended up paying the price in a 5-2 loss at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday. They fall to 17-13-6, including 3-2-1 in six straight January games which have all been played far away from home, sweet home.

“Certainly we miss playing in front of our fans. I like to think it’s a big advantage playing at home with our crowd. We try to make it a tough place to play, so not being able to be at home is certainly something that we miss,” Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey said following the disappointing outing.

Nashville came into this one in a surly mood after dropping four straight games, determined not to let the drought go any longer. They improve to 25-14-3 and continue to fight for top spot in the Central Division. Figuratively and, at times, literally. There were a combined 72 hits, with the Jets on the receiving end of 41 of them.

“We got exactly what we expected,” said interim Jets coach Dave Lowry. “We expected them to come out and to be ready to play. Their level of desperation, you could see it in their play. They had some urgency, they put pucks to the goal-line and they did what we wanted to do.”

Lowry liked big chunks of his team’s game in Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime loss in Washington, in which the Jets raced out to a 2-0 lead, gave up three straight goals then rallied to tie it late. There won’t be too many silver linings to be found in this one — especially after a putrid first period put them in a huge 3-0 hole.

“They have a hard forecheck and they play hard. I’ve played a lot of games over the years in this rink. The first period is always crucial. I just didn’t think we were good enough early on,” said Morrissey

“In order for them to play physical, they have to get the pucks. So I felt like we weren’t moving the puck well enough collectively, or supporting the puck in the first period. Which allowed them to play physical, throw a lot of pucks to the net and crash the net. Obviously we kind of let them play to their strengths early on, get the crowd into it.”

Eeli Tolvanen opened the scoring at 4:43, pouncing on a puck that had been shot by teammate Matt Benning and hit the crossbar. To make matters worse, the Jets challenged the call on the ice, believing it had been struck by a high stick seconds earlier. After a quick video review, the goal stood and Winnipeg was penalized for delay of game.

“I thought that the stick, the puck were over the crossbar, over the shoulder. The angle that we had, the one angle that we felt was worthy of a challenge,” said Lowry. “You’re not going to win all the challenges. But the angles that we had, we felt it looked like it was a high stick.”

Although they managed to kill off the minor, Mikael Granlund made it 2-0 at 11:49 after he fired a puck that banked in off Jets defenceman Neal Pionk. A sign, perhaps, that this wasn’t going to be the visitor’s night. It got worse before the intermission, as the resurgent Ryan Johansen took a drop pass from Roman Josi and beat Hellebuyck at 17:35 with a shot that needs to be stopped.

A goal like that certainly felt like a gut punch, and turned out to be the game-winner. You wondered if Lowry might get the hook out for Hellebuyck, who has started nine straight games. But with backup goalie Eric Comrie still in COVID protocol and the untested Mikhail Berdin behind him right now, he stayed with his No. 1 man.

“Absolutely not.,” Lowry said. “Our goalie is the reason we win a lot of hockey games. You know what, he shut the door and gave us a chance. There was never a thought.”

For a stretch, it looked like that might be a wise move, especially as Nashville’s reputation as a reckless crew began to bear fruit. Three straight high-sticking penalties early in the middle frame, including ones 56 seconds apart, gave the Jets an extended five-on-three.

Pierre-Luc Dubois took advantage as his pass attempt to Andrew Copp hit Nashville defenceman Alexandre Carrier and beat Juuse Saros, who had made a number of outstanding saves to that point. They don’t ask how, just how many, and Dubois is now up to 17, trailing only linemate Kyle Connor for the team lead.

But any hopes of a comeback were snuffed out a few minutes later when Luke Kunin deflected a Matt Tennyson point shot past Hellebuyck. It’s the type of goal Winnipeg seems to give up a ton of, especially against big, physical teams such as the Predators who seem to make themselves comfortable in the slot and cause plenty of net-front chaos.

And it came at a terrible time, with the Jets carrying a 12-2 shot advantage through the first 12 minutes of the second period. That sound you heard was momentum coming to a screeching halt.

A game like this is one where the absence of defenceman Brenden Dillon is noticed. Like Comrie, Dillon remains in COVID protocol and has missed three straight games. The Jets were bodied all night long. Rookie Tanner Jeannot even got the best of big Logan Stanley in a first-period fight brought on by Jeannot crushing Nate Schmidt with a hit from behind.

To their credit, Winnipeg at least made it slightly interesting when Mark Scheifele scored on a rebound just 25 seconds into the third period. His 10th of the year, set up by Copp and Morrissey, brought his team back within two.

But that’s as close as the Jets would get. Jeannot sealed the deal with an empty-net goal with 20 seconds left to play.

The unfortunate thing is that when you spot a team three, it’s hard to come back and win a hockey game,” said Lowry. “But I liked the resiliency of our group. We controlled the third period and we played the way that we’re going to have to play for 60. We did a lot of really good things, we created a lot and I still believe that there’s more there on the offensive side, just getting guys into the paint and around the front of the net.”

Lowry got the line blender out a bit with his team trying to rally. Kristian Vesalainen was bumped up to the top line to play with Copp and Scheifele. Paul Stastny, who had returned after missing two games with COVID, was moved down to the third line with Adam Lowry and Austin Poganski. Jansen Harkins, who started on that trio, was demoted to the fourth line with Dominic Toninato and Evgeny Svechnikov, who also made his return after missing last game with a minor injury. The only trio that remained intact all night was the line of Dubois, Connor and young Cole Perfetti.

Hellebuyck finished with 18 stops on 22 shots. Saros was much busier, making 36 saves. Winnipeg’s power play went 1-for-5, while the penalty kill was a perfect 3-for-3.

“They pressured hard, so didn’t give us a whole lot of time to set up,” Scheifele said of not taking further advantage of Nashville’s lawlessness. “They pressured kind of all over the ice and made it tough on us, so we needed to make adjustments and we just didn’t capitalize. We just weren’t sharp enough.”

In addition to Dillon and Comrie, the Jets were without two key forwards. Nikolaj Ehlers suffered a knee sprain on Tuesday against the Capitals and is considered week-to-week at this point. Captain Blake Wheeler missed a ninth straight game, but he’s getting close to a return and could be an option this weekend as the Jets play their seventh and eighth straight road games — Saturday in Boston and Sunday in Pittsburgh.

After that, they finally return to Canada Life Centre for the first time in five weeks next Tuesday, where the powerhouse Florida Panthers will pay a visit. The downtown rink will be nearly empty, with just 250 fans allowed under current public health orders. In other words, it’s not going to get any easier despite finally getting some home cooking on game days.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg