‘We deserved a better fate’: Jets suffer heartbreaking loss in OT to Wild

Things were supposed to be different for the Winnipeg Jets coming out of the much-needed holiday break.

After recharging their collective batteries and spending some quality time away from the rink, the Jets came back refreshed and ready, determined to leave a consistently inconsistent stretch of hockey in the rearview mirror.

For 59 minutes and change on Saturday night, the Jets did just that, playing a mostly sound defensive game and keeping the quality scoring chances to a minimum against a red-hot Central Division opponent that had collected at least a point in eight of the previous nine outings.

But after surrendering a power-play marker to Mats Zuccarello with 21.1 seconds to go in regulation time, Matt Boldy scored his second of the contest 39 seconds into three-on-three overtime to seal a 4-3 victory for the Minnesota Wild.

So, instead of earning a much-needed two points after an excellent effort, the Jets were left to lament the point that was left on the table as they lost a fifth consecutive game (0-2-3) and slipped to 15-17-4 for the season.

All five losses during this stretch have been one-goal setbacks.

“We have that belief in our room. We know what kind of team we can be,” said Jets centre Jonathan Toews.

“I think we need to keep vocalizing it, but also kind of following through with our play. We’re fed up, or we’ve had enough. Obviously, we were demanding more from each other. And if each guy keeps coming in with that attitude that we had today, then there’s no doubt that the tides will turn for us.”

Jets head coach Scott Arniel was incensed that the officials allowed Wild centre Joel Eriksson Ek to push defenceman Josh Morrissey from behind and into the boards earlier in the shift, but elected to penalize Jets blue-liner Dylan DeMelo for cross-checking Eriksson Ek in front of the net with 30 seconds left in regulation time.

“That’s a terrible non-call on Josh Morrissey. Absolute terrible non-call on Josh Morrissey,” said Arniel. “It should have been called. Head-first into the boards. And then a ticky-tack little call (on DeMelo) after that. That’s got nothing to do with managing. That was just a bad non-call. By the referees.”

Arniel didn’t back off his opinion during a follow-up question about the sequence of events that led up to the penalty that was called.

“Any other top players in the league, elite players, get hit from behind into the boards, I’m pretty sure that’s a penalty,” said Arniel. “Just a non-call on one of our star players.”

The retaliatory minor to DeMelo proved costly as Zuccarello took a pass from Kirill Kaprizov and ripped home the equalizer in the waning moments of regulation time.

Boldly’s game-winner completed a Tic-Tac-Toe play with Karpizov and Quinn Hughes after Jesper Wallstedt had stopped Mark Scheifele’s one-timer attempt at the other end of the ice.

Rather than hold onto the puck for a stoppage in play, Wallstedt dropped the puck behind his own net for Hughes, who promptly went on the attack.

Despite the outcome, Arniel was encouraged by a lot of things he saw in the first game coming out of the break.

“Nobody’s happy. Nobody’s happy about that. Nobody’s happy about losing. We wanted both points. We need both points. We didn’t get it,” said Arniel. “I can’t worry about the other 30-something odd games. To me, that was a strong effort, it was a really, really strong effort by us. It’s something that should have been two points.

“We’ve got to make sure, in those one-goal games, we’ve got to find a way. That one had a little bit of a different feel to it. That had a different outcome than maybe some of the past ones have had.”

Let’s take a closer look at what transpired in this one:

THE (NEAR) GOAL

The offensive challenges for Gustav Nyquist have been well-documented, but the veteran Jets winger raised some eyebrows with a beautiful individual effort in the first period.

Nyquist picked up the puck in the defensive zone and gained speed through the neutral zone before dancing around Hughes at the offensive blue line and beating Wallstedt with a wicked wrister to the blocker side for what looked like his first goal of the campaign.

But the highlight-reel snipe was quickly taken off the board after a successful coach’s challenge for offside, as Jets winger Nino Niederreiter had entered the zone before the puck was across the blue line.

Nyquist had another glorious scoring chance in the second period during the power play, but his shot through traffic rattled off the iron.

You can understand the frustration Nyquist must be feeling, but he’s been showing signs of coming out of his offensive funk recently.

“Yeah, it’s another bounce that’s tough to stomach, but I think he did a hell of a job of just kind of taking a deep breath and moving on,” said Toews. “He played great and rang one off the bar there in the second, so guys like him keep driving, keep making plays the way he has. It’s going to make our team a lot better.”

Nyquist has seven assists in 27 games for the Jets this season and he’s one of many forwards that is going to need to be more productive as the campaign moves along.

THE DECISION

With 5.1 seconds to go in the second period of a tie game, Arniel tapped Toews on the shoulder to take the offensive-zone draw on his strong side.

Toews dug in and won the draw to Scheifele, who picked up the puck and skated into the slot before ripping his shot past Wallstedt with 2.6 seconds left on the clock.

“It’s all instinct,” said Scheifele, who is up to 18 goals and 45 points in 36 games this season, which leaves him tied with linemate Kyle Connor in both categories.

The assist for Toews snapped an 11-game drought without a point and moved him to 10 points in 36 games in his comeback.

Toews has been excellent in the faceoff circle this season and Saturday was the latest example, winning 10 of the 13 draws he took.

“They don’t go perfectly the way you draw them up all the time, but obviously, just trying to get the puck back to Scheif there, and see what he can do,” Toews said of the buzzer beater. “And obviously, he made no mistake there.”

THE SHOWDOWN

The Jets are going to be in tough to catch the Wild in the Central Division standings, especially now that the rivals from the Twin Cities are 2-0-1 in the season series and have earned five of a possible six points so far.

The Jets are now 1-1-1 and have three of a possible six, but their issues in the Central Division run deeper, as they’ve now slipped to 4-6-2 this season.

The Jets have taken consecutive Central Division opponents overtime — rallying from a two-goal deficit against the Utah Mammoth and being unable to hold a 3-2 lead on Saturday against the Wild.

“That was a hell of an effort by our hockey team. It really was. What is it, (the) second-hottest team in the league since November 1^st? I thought that we did everything we possibly could to win that hockey game,” said Arniel. “To come down to a circumstance like that at the end, it is what it is. At the end of the day, I told the guys after, I’m real proud of the effort. Real proud of sort of the details, things that we did, the looks we got, the chances the opportunities we had. We deserved a better fate.”

THE KEY PLAY

Matt Boldy converted a pass from Quinn Hughes 39 seconds into overtime to secure the extra point for the visitors.

THE THREE STARS

• Matt Boldy, Wild, Scored twice, including the OT winner.
• Mark Scheifele, Jets, Scored a goal, added an assist.
• Kirill Kaprizov, Wild, Scored once, set up two others.

EXTRA, EXTRA

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck made a sixth consecutive start since coming back from arthroscopic knee surgery and he turned aside 15 of the 19 shots on goal that he faced.

Jets forward Gabe Vilardi chipped in a pair of helpers in the contest.

The crowd of 15,225 gave the Jets the third sellout of the season.

The healthy scratches for the Jets included defencemen Colin Miller and Haydn Fleury and forward Cole Koepke.

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