Jets forget script, blow lead

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This article was published 21/03/2021 (1634 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Death, taxes… and the Winnipeg Jets rebounding from a loss. Until Saturday night.

The Edmonton Oilers erased an early 2-0 deficit to rally for a 4-2 victory over the Jets at Rogers Place, sweeping the two-game mini-series after taking Thursday’s opener by a 2-1 score.

Winnipeg began the night with an NHL-best 10-0-1 record this year in the game immediately following a defeat, and looked like they were on their way to following a familiar script after early goals by Andrew Copp and Pierre-Luc Dubois.

But a late first-period snipe by Connor McDavid, and third period tallies by Darnell Nurse, Leon Draisaitl and Devin Shore (into an empty-net) resulted in the first two-game regulation losing streak of the season for Winnipeg.

“We’ve taken pride in that. It’s going to happen in the course of a year. This year, you’re not going to go 56 games without losing twice in a row,” Copp said following the game via Zoom. “These two games definitely didn’t go the way we wanted them to. But all in all I don’t think we played bad. Obviously you’d like to put the puck in the net a little bit more. But I don’t believe there’s any panic. There’s a lot of belief in our room.”

Winnipeg falls to 18-11-2 on the year and remain in third place in the all-Canadian division. Edmonton improves to 21-13-0 and are now tied with Toronto for first place, four points ahead of the Jets.

“We don’t like it. Locker room is not thrilled right now, so that’s a good sign,” said Jets captain Blake Wheeler, who was assessed a game misconduct at the final buzzer for picking up the puck and tossing it into the empty stands. Hopefully no tarps were injured.

Thursday’s game was a sluggish, low-event, tight-checking affair, as both the Jets and Oilers had played the night before and then travelled into the wee hours. The rematch 48 hours later was much more wide open. There were plenty of chances at both end, and both Hellebuyck and Edmonton netminder Mike Smith were sharp.

Winnipeg struck first 10:36 into the opening frame following a bizarre series of bounces while on the power play. Nikolaj Ehlers attempted a pass, which struck Edmonton defenceman Adam Larsson and then Copp on its way into the net. Smith, who was screened by Mathieu Perreault, never saw any of it.

Copp’s sixth of the year gave the visitors the kind of start they were looking for.

The Jets doubled their lead at 15:27, once again courtesy of a deflected puck. This one was actually a double deflection, as Josh Morrissey’s shot was tipped by Ehlers and then Dubois. The 22-year-old centre is now up to five goals and seven assists through 16 games with the Jets, which would equate to a 25-goal, 35-assist, 60-point campaign over a full season.

Dubois was noticeable all night, not just for his offensive work, but even more for his defensive efforts and physical play.

However, the Jets couldn’t entirely smother that McDavid character, who cut Edmonton’s deficit in half at 17:04 when he wired a wrist shot past Hellebuyck. Mark Scheifele was trying to stay with McDavid, but ultimately couldn’t get enough of him on the play.

McDavid had both of Edmonton’s goals in Thursday’s win, and he’s now up to 21 on the year, tied for the NHL lead with Toronto’s Auston Matthews.

There was some bad blood in this one, especially after Edmonton winger Zack Kassian drilled Ehlers with a late, open-ice hit-from-behind and wasn’t called for a penalty on the play. Ehlers was winded but managed to stay in the game. Jets centre Adam Lowry appeared to invite Kassian to drop the gloves, but he declined.

McDavid nearly put himself on top, and tied the game, when he burst in on a partial breakaway during the second period. But Hellebuyck stood tall and made the save.

The Jets had several chances of their own, including a strange play where Smith bobbled a puck behind his own net and Kyle Connor appeared to have a yawning cage to shoot at. But Smith managed to dive back just in time to get a glove on the puck before it crossed the line. Winnipeg came within inches in the dying seconds of the middle frame as Wheeler rang a shot off the post, and Dylan DeMelo swept the rebound right into Smith’s pads.

The Jets would come to rue those missed opportunities given how the third period played out.

“Even on the power play early in the third we had a chance to go 3-1. That’s definitely a part of winning games, especially in the playoffs and down the stretch here, is learning how to put teams away. We’ve done a good job of that all year, so it’s not a re-occurring problem. But definitely part of it (Saturday night),” said Copp.

Nurse tied the game at 3:19 after the Jets all converged in the same corner, leaving him wide open to take a feed from Jesse Puljujarvi and walk right in to beat Hellebuyck with a slapper. And then a costly pinch by DeMelo near the midway mark came back to bite Winnipeg, as McDavid fed Draisaitl for the game-winner on a two-on-one rush at 9:36.

“You’ve got to be on the right side of the puck. I don’t want to say perfect, but those two guys, one little play where guys were on different pages can end up in the back of the net. Can’t give them any time and space. They’ll burn you if you do,” said Copp.

Shore sealed it with the empty-net goal with 80 seconds left to play.

Hellebuyck finished the game with 33 saves, while Smith stopped 29 pucks that came his way.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg