Scheifele’s eighth goal of the season isn’t enough as the Jets fall 3-2 to the Mammoth

After a night of penalty kicks and an entertaining 5-3 win on Friday night against the Calgary Flames, the Jets wrapped up their three-game home stretch this afternoon against the Utah Mammoth. The now 6-2-0 Jets took on the 7-2-0 Mammoth at the Canada Life Center looking to continue their winning ways in a battle for first place in the Central Division. I’ll be honest: I haven’t watched the NHL standings as much so far this season, and I had no idea the Mammoth were off to such a good start. The Jets’ top players were one of the bigger stories tonight, but unfortunately their play wasn’t enough to help the Jets win.

Tonight’s Jets lineup was a little different than last game. The 1st and 4th forward lines have remained relatively the same through the Jets’ first 8 games, but experimentation continues with the 2nd and 3rd lines. Tonight Alex Iafallo was on the 2nd line with Jonathan Toews and Nikita Chibrikov. On the third line were Nino Niederreiter, Vladislav Namestnikov and Gustav Nyquist. The Jets also made a defensive change. Haydn Fleury moved to the 2nd pair with Neal Pionk, while Logan Stanley moved to the 3rd pair with Colin Miller. Connor Hellebuyck got the start in goal as he looked to continue his early season success. Spoiler alert, Hellebuyck was pretty good again tonight.

1st Period

The first period started slowly as both teams looked for the first goal of the match. The Jets defeated Mammoth 8-6 after 20 minutes, with Vitek Vanecek and Connor Hellebuyck looking sharp in net. Not only was there no scoring in the 1st, but no penalties were taken either. If you’ve watched the last few Jets games, you know there have been penalties early and often, but that wasn’t the case tonight.

2nd Period

The 2nd period started off great for the Jets. Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey founded Dylan DeMelo at the time. On the Jets’ first shot of the period, a slap shot from DeMelo went past a screened Vanecek and into the back of the net, making it 1-0 Jets.

A few minutes after this goal, the Jets took the first penalty of the match, a high penalty on Nikita Chibrikov. Despite a busy past few matches for the penalty killers, they looked sharp again tonight. That changed, however, when the Jets took their second penalty of the game midway through the game, when Neal Pionk was called for a delay of play due to puck over glass.

Immediately after a face-off win by Nick Schmaltz, Mikhail Sergachev fired a wrist shot that went past a screened Hellebuyck. 64 seconds later, the Mammoth suddenly took the lead in the game. Nate Schmidt sent in Kailer Yamamoto for a 2-on-1 rush. Yamamoto made a great pass to Michael Carcone, who flew past an outstretched Hellebuyck.

The Mammoth lead only lasted four minutes, however, as the Jets cashed in on their first power play of the night. With seconds left in the man advantage, Gabriel Vilardi and Josh Morrissey put Mark Scheifele close. After turning to the net, Scheifele pushed one into the back of the net, tying this match at 2.

This goal was special for two reasons. Mark Scheifele is now tied for the league lead with 8 goals. Josh Morrissey’s assist was his 300th career assist, the first defenseman in Jets history to reach that mark. The second period ended tied at 2, but the Mammoth doubled the Jets in shots on goal in the second period 16-8.

3rd Period

The 3rd and final period of this match was fairly even throughout the 20 minutes. Nikita Chibrikov and JJ Peterka were called up for a hard battle after almost six minutes, but the 4 against 4 yielded nothing. Luke Schenn was called for interference around the ten minute mark, but the Jets’ penalty was once again huge in this important part of the game.

With just over 5 minutes left, the Mammoth took a 3-2 lead. JJ Peterka and Logan Cooley set up Dylan Guenther as he cut toward the net, and on the one timer he fired the puck perfectly over Hellebuyck’s shoulder and into the back of the net. Guenther’s fifth of the season would unfortunately be tonight’s match winner as the Jets failed to score a draw. A too-many penalty limited the amount of time the Jets could have a 6-on-5, and they ultimately couldn’t tie it. The final shots on goal were 32-30 for the Mammoth as they held on to improve their current win streak to seven in a row.

Next

With the Jets’ three-game homestand completed, the Jets’ regular season schedule continues Tuesday in Minnesota against the Wild. Puck drop for this game will 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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