Jets rally late but come up short in central division battle with Nashville
The Winnipeg Jets had another shot at moving up the standings in the Western Conference playoff race, but fell just short once again.
This time it was by way of a 4-3 shootout loss to fellow Central Division rivals, the Nashville Predators.
After a back-and-forth opening 40 minutes, Nashville pulled ahed 3-2 late in the third period.
Winnipeg responded with Connor Hellebuyck on the bench for the extra attacker, as Jonathan Toews tied the game on his ninth of the season with just 1:01 to play.
The game needed extra time - to which neither team could find the winner. A shootout then occurred, with Nashville's first shooter, Ryan O'Reilly, potting the decisive goal.
None of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele or Gabe Vilardi could muster up a goal in the shootout for Winnipeg.
Vilardi and Josh Morrissey scored the other goals for Winnipeg, which fell to two points behind Nashville in the standings and four behind Seattle for the final wild card spot in the west.
The game also marked the final test of the eight-game homestand for Winnipeg, to which the Jets now hit the road for three games in four days in Boston, Pittsburgh and New York.
HIGHLIGHTS:
PHOTOS:
The extended photo library from Tuesday's game vs. Nashville is courtesy of Danny Truong:
QUOTEABLE:
Jonathan Toews on if his goal was his biggest moment as a Jet thus far:
“I don’t know. It’s nice to score in a situation like that. Going down the stretch, you’re going to be in some tight games. So, it’s nice to have some confidence when you go out there, whether it’s a power play or a six-man unit to score one late and get back in a game like that.”
Gabe Vilardi on the eight-game homestand:
"We've been winning and picking up points, so it's been pretty good. You know, we got to keep going though. Every game's playoff mode right now for us. That's the position we put ourselves in because of our earlier in the season trouble. Right now we're in playoff mode obviously, and we got to preferably get two points but what are you going to do?”
WHAT’S NEXT:
The Jets finally hit the road after what was a season-long, eight-game homestand (5-2-1). Next up are games in Boston, Pittsburgh and New York over the weekend before the team returns home for Tuesday/Thursday matchups with the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche.
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