Jets Blow 2-1 Lead, Lose 4-2 in New Jersey

A lousy power play combined with an inability to win most face-offs, has sent the Winnipeg Jets into a tailspin. Sunday night in Newark, N.J., the Jets gave up three unanswered goals in the third period, blew a 2-1 advantage after 40 minutes and lost 4-2 to the red-hot New Jersey Devils. The Jets were their own worst enemies on Sunday. They won only 39 per cent of their face-offs and lost almost every faceoff on two power play opportunities in the third period. They were also zero-for-three on the power play and managed only four shots on goal with the man advantage. It was the Jets second straight loss and the second straight loss to start a tough four-game road swing that is only going to get tougher. The 34-21-1 Jets will face the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday night and then the New York Islanders at UBS Arena in Belmont Park on Wednesday. On Sunday, the Jets started strongly but just made too many mistakes in the third period to hold on for the win. Cole Perfetti opened the scoring at the 14:57 mark of the first period from Mark Scheifele and Neal Pionk, but Dawson Mercer answered for the Devils at 15:16 before Pionk scored at 17:09 from Brenden Dillon and Schiefele to give the Jets a 2-1 lead. That lead held up until the 5:02 mark of the third when Fabian Zetterlund tied the game with a goal for Jersey. Miles Wood gave the Devils the lead at 6:53 and then Mercer scored his second of the night into an empty net at 19:04. The Jets were awful in the final period and despite outshooting the Devils 9-7, most of Winnipeg's shots were desperation blasts from well out. Overall, the Devils outshot Winnipeg 29-25. Mackenzie Blackwood made 23 saves for the Devils, who improved to 37-15-5. The Devils have won two straight and are 5-1-1 since the All-Star break. Connor Hellebuyck faced 28 of the Devils shots and made 25 saves. The big problem for the Jets, however, was in the face-off circle. Pierre-Luc Dubois won three-of-13 face-offs, Mark Scheifele won five-of-14 and Adam Lowry won seven-of-15. In a number of cases those face-off losses became power-play destroyers. If Winnipeg doesn't find a way to win face-offs consistently, they might want to start declining penalties. The Jets are also in another scoring slump. When Winnipeg scores three of more goals per game, they have the best winning percentage in the NHL. Unfortunately, in the last two games, both losses, the Jets have managed a grand total of three goals. Winnipeg will have no time to lick its wounds. The Jets will face the 33-14-9 Rangers Monday night in New York. Game time is 6 p.m. on TSN 3.