Jets fight back down 3-0 early in the 2nd, but lose a close 4-3 battle against the Stars

Finally, a long period of games mainly on the road came to an end and the Jets suffered a 6-2 loss to the Oilers on Saturday evening in Edmonton. The Jets returned home tonight against their Central Division rivals: the Dallas Stars. Canada Life Center hosted tonight’s game as the Jets looked to start this four-game home stretch with a much-needed win. The now 14-13-1 Jets took on the 20-5-5 Dallas Stars, with the Jets attempting to return to a playoff spot while the Stars attempted to catch the Colorado Avalanche for first place in the Central Division.

There were several changes to the Jets’ lineup tonight as they once again decided to shake up the combinations, especially within the forward lines. Alex Iafallo moved up to the top line, playing alongside Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor. Gabriel Vilardi moved to the second line with Adam Lowry and Nino Niederreiter. Tanner Pearson, Vladislav Namestinikov and Cole Perfetti made up the 3rd line, and Jonathan Toews was on the 4th line wing with Morgan Barron and Cole Koepke. A slight change in the defensive pairings, as Luke Schenn was in the third pairing with Logan Stanley.

Eric Comrie was given another start in goal as Hellebuyck moves closer to his return as he is now reportedly away for another one to two weeks. Haydn Fleury remains the only other injured Jets player currently, who is now out of concussion protocol and continues to practice. Comrie came into tonight’s game with a 6-6-1 record, a 3.08 GAA and an average of .897 SV%. Tonight’s game didn’t start well for the Jets, but they fought back to make the most of a game in which they unfortunately fell just short of winning.

1st Period

The 1st didn’t start the way the Jets wanted, as Esa Lindell opened the scoring just 44 seconds after the puck drop. Mikko Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston put Lindell on the point, and his wrist shot went past a screened Comrie to give the Stars a very early 1-0 lead.

The Jets did not let this goal fool them early and a minute later they got their first power play of the evening. Justin Hryckowian was called for hacking Gabriel Vilardi, but unfortunately the Jets were unable to tie the game on this early power play. Morgan Barron took a pair of penalties in the first, starting with a hooking call at halftime.

Despite the Jets losing a lot of games lately, the penalty killing remains quite consistent, and the Jets held it to one goal. After this penalty was over, the Jets began to generate more chances and took the lead in shots to goals. Morgan Barron took his second penalty of the first, a tripping call with 26 seconds left on Mikko Rantanen, giving the Stars a shortened power play to start the second. After the first game, shots on goal were 11-6 for the Jets, and despite falling behind very early, the Jets turned this period into positive momentum to carry on for the rest of the game.

2nd Period

The Stars shortened the power play to start the 2nd was almost over, before the Stars capitalized to make it 2-0. Wyatt Johnston set up Mikko Rantanen, who quickly made a drop pass to Roope Hintz before firing the puck past Comrie, who didn’t have much of a chance.

After this goal, whatever slight momentum the Jets had at one point in the first was gone. Just over a minute later the Stars made it 3-0. Sam Steel and Mavrik Bourque put Alexander Petrovic at the top of the faceoff, and he fired a thunderous slap shot that Comrie couldn’t respond to in time. Suddenly the Stars had 3 goals on just 8 shots.

At this point it may have seemed like it was going to be a long night for the Jets, but they battled back nicely. After Mark Scheifele made a nice play to break up a stretch pass, Kyle Connor grabbed the puck and handed it back to Scheifele near the faceoff spot. Scheifele fired a perfect shot past Casey DeSmith to get the Jets on the board and make it a 3-1 game.

5 minutes later the Jets got their second power play of the night after Wyatt Johnston was called for hacking Kyle Connor. The Jets’ best power play unit went to work and they couldn’t quite score on this advantage, but just 6 seconds after the penalty expired, the Jets cut the Stars’ lead to just 1. Kyle Connor returned the puck to Josh Morrissey at that point. Morrissey quickly found Scheifele in almost the same spot where Scheifele scored to make it 3-1, and this time Scheifele fired a slap shot past DeSmith for his 16th of the season.

This goal really brought the crowd at the Canada Life Center back to life and gave the Jets a boost in the third period. Shots on goal after 40 minutes were 25-14 for the Jets, and what once looked like a “game over” at 3-0 was now anyone’s game with twenty minutes to play.

3rd Period

The third period got underway after Dylan DeMelo took a high stick penalty on Matt Duchene at 3:07. With not much time left on the power play, Mikko Rantanen and Miro Heiskanen set up Jason Robertson for a nice passing move that ended with Robertson firing a slap shot past Comrie’s outstretched glove, giving the Stars a 4-2 lead.

That goal wasn’t what the Jets needed after gaining some momentum in the 2nd. Just over a minute later, however, the Jets cut the Stars’ lead to 1. Cole Perfetti and Gabriel Vilardi set up Logan Stanley, who gathered the puck between the two faceoff points and fired a shot on goal. Stanley followed the net, collected his own rebound and pushed one into the nearly empty cage.

A few minutes later, Alexander Petrovic was called for hitting Mark Scheiefele. Despite some very solid chances on the power play, the Jets were unable to tie the game and trailed 4-3 with 9 minutes to play. Vladislav Namestnikov took an early hook penalty, putting the Stars’ third-ranked power play back to work. The Jets had a successful penalty kill and defeated the Stars 32-19 with 7 minutes left.

The Jets continued to push for the equalizer before sending Comrie to the bench with 1:30 left. Mikko Rantanen was called for tripping after colliding with Kyle Connor 1 minute earlier, giving the Jets a chance to go 6 on 4 for almost the rest of the game. The Jets called their timeout with 88 seconds left, giving their star players a chance to rest while they set up a play in an attempt to tie this game.

Despite a late push, the Jets were unable to fully get going at the end of the game and the Stars held on for a 4-3 victory. The final shots on goal were 33-19 for the Jets, who played an overall good game despite the loss against an elite team. What was once a 3-0 lead for the Stars has turned into a very competitive game, and hopefully the Jets can play the same way in the future as this will eventually lead to some wins.

Next

The Jets will remain in Winnipeg for nearly another week as their regular season schedule continues Thursday night with a game against the Boston Bruins. Puck drop for this match will again take place just after 7:00 PM CT. Stay up to date with all the latest Jets news, plus previews and recaps of every Jets game this season, right here at Jets Nation.

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