Jets’ game flies south against Ducks

The Winnipeg Jets sure looked like a team that was running on fumes Friday night.

Playing for the fifth time in eight days, the club suffered its first regulation loss of the young season — a lacklustre 5-1 showing against the Anaheim Ducks at Canada Life Centre.

While we won’t question the effort, the execution was a different story. Sloppy plays, missed passes, porous defensive-zone coverage and iffy goaltending made this a tough watch for the 13,693 fans in attendance.

“Just some mental things that happened. Obviously some physical things as well,” said head coach Scott Arniel.

“Not an excuse, everybody does it, the five-in-eight. But there were some things there mentally that you could see caught up to us.”

You can go up and down the lineup and find plenty of fault, especially over the final 40 minutes of this one.

“I thought we had a really good start. And then in the second we kind of got away from that. Maybe trying too much, thinking we had to play a little bit of catch-up with the goal deficit,” said defenceman Mario Ferraro.

“We showed a pretty good example of the way we need to play in the first, and then it kind of went south from there.”

The lack of cohesion was especially notable on the power play — routinely a strength of this squad — with the Jets going 0-for-4 and not looking overly dangerous as they struggled at times to even establish control in the offensive zone.

“We had a lot of chances there to change the momentum, and unfortunately we weren’t able to get one,” said forward Kyle Connor. “A big chance to turn the game and we didn’t do it.”

Throw in nearly three more minutes of six-on-five time late in the third period, with goaltender Clay Stevenson out for an extra attacker, and that’s about 11 minutes of play Winnipeg couldn’t get a goal despite having a man advantage. They technically got outscored 1-0, since the Ducks iced the game with an empty-netter.

“In a game like that where the schedule is hard on you, your power play can help you and get you right back in the game,” said Arniel.

Winnipeg managed 16 shots in the game.

No doubt the Jets are hoping this type of game becomes a “one-off” — especially after they had done plenty of good in their first four outings, which included an overtime loss to Boston followed by three straight victories over Detroit, Pittsburgh and, most impressively, Colorado.

Time will ultimately tell in that regard.

“It’s a long season. We’re going to have games like this. And that’s good for us,” said Connor. “It’s all learning lessons throughout the course of the season.”

The Jets (3-1-1) now get the chance to catch their breath as they don’t return to action until Tuesday, when they host the Minnesota Wild. Anaheim, a quick young team on the rise which made the playoffs last spring, improves to 3-1-0 on the season.

“They’re a good hockey team, but I think we kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little bit in the second and third,” said Ferraro.

The unusual suspects

Anaheim has plenty of firepower on its roster, including the current highest-paid player in the league, Leo Carlsson, and another rising star in Cutter Gauthier.

Winnipeg kept them in check, which normally would lead to a good result.

The fourth line of Jeff Malott, Tim Washe and Judd Caulfield did the majority of the damage.

Malott, the one-time Manitoba Moose, set up Caulfield in the first period. It was the first NHL goal for the 25-year-old from Grand Forks, who was playing in his fifth big-league game. Washe had the second helper, and momentum which had been in Winnipeg’s favour really seemed to shift.

Malott and Caulfield then set up Washe for the 2-0 tally early in the second period — giving all three linemates their first multi-point game.

Sam Colangelo, with 12 career goals, made it 3-0 early in the third period when he took advantage of some spotty coverage and buried a pass from Beckett Sennecke.

Mikael Granlund added some insurance later in the final frame with a long-distance shot that seemed to surprise Stevenson, who stopped 12 of the 16 shots he faced.

Nikita Nesterenko finished off the scoring into an empty net.

The lone highlight

Connor continues to be red-hot.

The dynamic Jets winger broke the shutout bid of goaltender Lukas Dostal midway through the third period, taking a great pass from Mark Scheifele and scoring on a breakaway.

Connor — who was playing in his 700th career game — is already up to six goals on the year, which is tied for the NHL lead. His goal also moved him past Ilya Kovalchuk and into third all-time on the franchise scoring list with 329.

“It’s pretty cool. I don’t take for granted any minute in this league. Hopefully lots more,” said Connor.

It’s great that Connor is lighting the lamp early and often, as has been linemate Cole Perfetti with three. But the rest of the team have combined for four goals in five games — one each from defencemen Ferarro and Dylan DeMelo, and one each from Adam Lowry and Alex Iafallo.

The Jets desperately need more players to get in on the offensive act.

Key play

Sam Colangelo’s goal early in the third period extended the lead to 3-0 and put this one out of reach.

THREE STARS:

1. ANA RW Judd Caulfield: 1 goal, 1 assist

2. ANA C Tim Washe: 1 goal, 1 assist

3. ANA LW Jeff Malott: 2 assists

Extra, extra!

Defenceman Neal Pionk was minus-three on the night, as were all three members of Winnipeg’s fourth line in Vlad Namestnikov, Cole Koepke and Brad Lambert.

Lowry dropped the gloves in the first period, scoring a decisive win over Travis Mitchell. The Ducks defenceman took exception to a big hit thrown by Lowry on forward A.J. Greer.

Veteran forward Nino Niederreiter was a healthy scratch for a third straight game, while defenceman Jack St. Ivany was the odd man out on the blue-line.

Elias Salomonsson is getting closer to a return. The young defenceman, who underwent shoulder surgery in the spring, shed his non-contact jersey for the first time Friday. There’s hope he could be back in the lineup within the next week if all goes well.

Down on the farm

The Moose had a tough night at the office as well, suffering their first loss of the young season in Michigan.

Grand Rapids goaltender Michal Postava stopped 36 of 37 shots in a 2-1 victory over the visitors, who were off to a perfect 2-0-0 start after sweeping the Chicago Wolves last weekend.

Noah Gregor scored the lone goal for the Moose, a highlight-reel tally that was his third in as many games. Parker Ford drew the lone assist.

Goaltender Dom DiVincentiis, who had a shutout in his first game, made 31 saves in a losing effort. Manitoba wraps up this quick road trip by playing in Chicago on Saturday night.

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