Jets drop crucial game against philly
The Winnipeg Jets are down to one last breath.
Despite a heavy blowout from Philadelphia on Saturday night, the Jets are still, mathematically, in the playoff hunt, but with every point lost the challenge to crack the postseason gets that much harder.
Winnipeg didn't do itself any favours on Saturday either. From the get go, it was all Flyers.
The Jets fell behind 3-1 after 20 minutes, before giving up another two goals in the second and another two in the third.
And this was a must-win game.
With Los Angeles and Nashville earlier picking up wins in their respective games, the Jets needed a victory to keep pace in a very narrow race for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.
Unfortunately, the Jets did not show up to play on Saturday, and with that, their playoff hopes hold on by just a thread. Winnipeg will need all of Los Angeles, Nashville and San Jose to effectively 'lose out,' while they 'win out' over the remaining schedules in order to even be considered for the postseason.
Haydn Fleury had the Jets' lone goal on the night, while Connor Hellebuyck lasted just 40 minutes after allowing five goals on 20 shots. He was relieved by Eric Comrie, who didn't have a save until the 17- minute mark of the final period, allowing two goals on three shots.
Winnipeg now hits the road for its final road trip of the season, with stops in Vegas and Utah before returning home for Thursday's season ender against San Jose.
HIGHLIGHTS:
PHOTOS:
The extended photo library from Saturday's game vs. Philadelphia is courtesy of Danny Truong:
QUOTEABLE:
Jets' head coach Scott Arniel on his team knowing about the score of the Kings' game prior to puck drop:
"It wasn't announced in our locker room. I am sure, maybe some guys looked and maybe some didn't, but it doesn't matter at the end of the day. We have talked about controlling what we can control, and that is basically trying to win every single night until the end of the year. And that is all we can do as we can't control what other teams are doing. Regardless of what else happened around the league, we were not ready to go and they were, and we could never get back in the game."
Adam Lowry on his team's performance:
"I don't think it's a tough sell. I think we were 11 points out coming out of the break, and we talked about this internal optimism, this belief in our team that we were better than we played all year and coming out of the break, I feel like we've done a good job of putting together good stretches of hockey playing well against good teams. And that can't change. We need our next three games. Need to be our three best of the year."
WHAT’S NEXT:
The Jets hit the road for two games in Vegas and Utah before returning home for the final game of the season against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night from Canada Life Centre.
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