Mistakes costly as Jets fall to Hurricanes

With or without Connor Hellebuyck, the Winnipeg Jets were always going to be facing a tough test in the Carolina Hurricanes.

Taking on one of the NHL’s top teams without the reigning Hart and Vezina trophy winner didn’t help the cause Friday night in hard-fought 4-3 loss in front of a sold-out crowd at Canada Life Centre.

Jets goaltender Eric Comrie, who is going to have to hold down the crease for the next four-to-six weeks while Hellebuyck is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery, stopped 24 of 28 shots he faced.

His debut as the main masked man got off to a rough start, with Carolina captain Jordan Staal beating him on the first shot of the game just 16 seconds into the opening period.

“I felt for him right away,” said Jets coach Scott Arniel. “But then he settled in. He made some big stops. I thought he was rock-solid. He was his consistent self.”

After Josh Morrissey and Gabe Vilardi responded later in the frame to give the Jets a 2-1 advantage, the Hurricanes stormed back with three consecutive goals to seize control.

Staal struck again early in the second, and then Winnipegger Seth Jarvis gave Carolina the lead for good a few minutes later with a shorthanded snipe. Sebastian Aho was originally stopped by Comrie on a breakaway before Jarvis buried the rebound.

The dagger came early in the third as Nikolaj Ehlers — returning to Winnipeg for the first time since signing a lucrative free agent deal with Carolina last summer — made a beautiful cross-ice feed to Andrei Svechnikov who buried the one-timer with his team on the power play.

That would prove to be the game-winner after Vilardi notched his second of the night with just over 15 minutes left in regulation, triggering a frantic Winnipeg push that couldn’t lead to the equalizer.

“I don’t know if it’s what they did, I think it’s more about what we didn’t do,” Vilardi said.

“I think we know they play an aggressive style. We knew that coming in, obviously. I think we made a few too many mistakes at our blue line, at their blue line, just kind of feeding their transition.”

Hurricanes netminder Brandon Bussi looked shaky early on but really settled in, turning aside 24 shots.

“I thought that was a very winnable game for us. We just couldn’t find that next one,” said defenceman Dylan DeMelo.

The Jets had their modest two-game winning streak snapped and hit the 20-game mark with a 12-8-0 record. Carolina improves to 14-5-2 which has them on top of the Eastern Conference and trailing only the scorching hot Colorado Avalanche (14-1-5) for top spot in the NHL.

DANDY DANE: Ehlers admitted the 695th regular-season game of his career was going to bring about a wave of emotions. That’s because he was facing the team he spent the first 674 with for the first time.

“Exciting, and definitely one that I was looking forward to. But also getting a little nervous here,” the flashy new Hurricanes winger said prior to puck drop.

“I think the first few shifts are gonna be, you know, just worry about passing to the right guy.”

Ehlers only passed the puck to a former teammate once — he was credited with a single giveaway — while finishing the game with one assist in 17:36 of action, with seven shot attempts (one on goal) and zero fights — something he’d joked about following the morning skate with regards to Jets defenceman Neal Pionk.

“He texted me the other night and asked me if I wanted my first fight in a ‘Canes jersey? So, I told him that it would be your first in the NHL,” said Ehlers.

The pride of Denmark cracked a big smile when, during the Star Spangled Banner, he was shown on the scoreboard and the crowd broke into a huge applause. And he was clearly moved during a TV timeout in the first intermission, as a video tribute was followed by a standing ovation.

Ehlers came within inches of a goal in the first period, his shot seemingly destined for the back of the net before DeMelo swatted it out of mid-air.

After a slow start offensively, Ehlers has chipped in at least a point in nine of the past 10 games and he’s up to 14 points (4G, 10A) in 21 contests.

The Jets will visit Raleigh next Friday to wrap up the season series.

DEFENSIVE DETAIL: One thing the Jets were adamant about is the need to get back to their bread-and-butter — which is playing strong team defence.

That’s been absent through large stretches of the young season, not helped by the fact several key players such as Adam Lowry, Dylan Samberg and Cole Perfetti have all missed significant time with injuries.

“It’s important that we continue to try to improve in the areas that (during) the last few weeks I think we have,” said Lowry. “That’s defence, that’s the chances we are giving up, neutralizing the rush, if we can play better defensively in front and then we can make Com’sjob more easier for him then we can kind of continue climbing the standings.”

So how did they do in this one?

Fairly well — even if the final score may not have shown it. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Jets gave up just one high-danger chance at even strength all night, while generating 10 of their own. (All situations including special teams were 11-4 for Winnipeg).

That’s pretty stingy, the kind of performance that is going to win you a lot more games than you’ll lose over the long haul.

“I think our compete was there for the most part,” said DeMelo.

“We had chances, second chances, rebounds, we were going to the net. Obviously some really good plays off the rush, some really good looks, you know? I think that third period, we didn’t spend too much time in our D zone. So there was a lot of good there and stuff that we can, we can work on, for sure.”

KEY PLAY: Svechnikov’s power play goal proved to be the difference.

THREE STARS :

1. Hurricanes, Jordan Staal: 2G

2. Jets, Gabe Vilardi: 2G

3. Hurricanes, Sebastian Aho: 2A

EXTRA, EXTRA: The Jets made one lineup change, with forward Cole Koepke replacing Tanner Pearson on the fourth line. Defenceman Colin Miller was the other healthy scratch, while defenceman Haydn Fleury (concussion protocol) is the only other players besides Hellebuyck currently sidelined.

The crowd of 15,225 was Winnipeg’s second full house of the season — but the first since opening night against the Dallas Stars.

Winnipeg is now 6-4-0 on home ice after losing seven regulation games out of their 41 last year.

The Jets will wrap up this three-game stint in their own backyard by hosting the Minnesota Wild on Sunday afternoon.

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