Kyle Connor scored his 40th goal of the season for the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night. That was the silver lining.
The dark cloud? Brady Tkachuk scored a pair of goals to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 5-2 shellacking of the Jets in front of 13,000 at Canada Life Centre.
With the loss, the Jets two-game winning streak came an end and the local six fell to 30-25-10 on the season. The Jets playoff hopes get slimmer with every loss.
Connor, the team's lone shining star, called it "frustrating".
Nikolaj Ehlers? Well, he laid it out rather clearly.
“Obviously, it was very frustrating," he said. "At this time of year, with the position that we’re in, we want to get on a run. But this is not an easy league to do that in. There are some pretty good teams and Ottawa was great tonight. There’s no way around that."
Sadly, this was a game the Jets should have won. Ottawa was 22-36-5 heading into Thursday night's game, they'd been sellers at the trade deadline and they had nothing to play for but pride.
On this night, pride conquered all.
"They put pucks to the goal line; they got in and forechecked," head coach Dave Lowry said post-game. "We tried to make plays at the blue line and turned pucks over. We ended up spending too much time in our own zone."
The Jets opened the scoring at the 8:38 of the first period when Josh Morrissey carried the puck down the left-side boards in Ottawa territory and attempted to make a pass to Blake Wheeler who was alone in front. The pick was tipped by a Senators player and went under Ottawa netminder Anton Forsberg. It was Morrissey's 10th goal of the year. Mark Scheifele (34) and Wheeler (40) drew the assists.
But even though Winnipeg appeared to be in control of the game, the Senators tied it when Brady Tkachuk tipped one past Connor Hellebuyck at 14:03.
The Jets outshot Ottawa 11-8 and seemed to be the better team but they really didn't generate any chances.
Ottawa had the upper hand in the second period, outshooting Winnipeg 11-7, but Hellebuyck was solid and no goals were scored. It was 1-1 heading to the third.
In the third, the Jets had nothing -- no jump, no desire to go to the net and in the end, little to offer the fans who came expecting a big night from the home side.
Ottawa took the lead at 12:25 of the third when Mathieu Joseph was sprung loose down the right wing, he made a great move on Logan Stanley, flipped the puck to Tyler Ennis and Ennis had a wide open net. It was Ennis' eighth of the year and the Jets looked deflated.
Ottawa made it 3-1 a few minutes later when Colin White scored his second of the season on the power play at 14:41.
The Senators put it on ice -- and almost emptied the building -- at 15:40 when Connor Brown scored his 10th of the season by banging home a nice pass from Tim Stutzle on a three-on-two rush.
You could see the Jets play-off hopes evaporating during a three minute and 15 second stretch late in the third period. It was as if they'd completely given up. From start to finish it was a sad performance and if, in the end, the Jets fail to make the post-season, they can look back on the third period of the game against Ottawa on March 24 and remember where it all came crashing down.
“It’s a mindset, wanting to make a difference every single night," Connor said of his team's efforts. "We see how talented our group is, no question about that. It’s just about the willingness to commit, and I think we were a little disjointed tonight, stretching when we don’t need to be, need to support the puck, being too close, leaving guys open, just not making the right reads when we need to. Just a very frustrating game for sure.
Connor scored his 40th with Hellebuyck out of the net at 17:06. It gave Connor a point in nine straight games. It also didn't mean anything of significance other than the milestone itself.
Tkachuk scored his second of the night and 22nd of the season into an empty net at 18:44 and that was it for the night. Ottawa outshot Winnipeg 33-24 and outhit the Jets 28-26.
Winnipeg won 55 per cent of the faceoffs, but Ottawa scored the only power play goal on the only power play of the contest. The officiating was embarrassing to the NHL once again.
“Well, our goal is to win the next game and that’s really what we’ll focus on," coach Lowry said. "We know the position that we’re in and we know the importance of every game. Our focus is to get ready for tomorrow... We’ll look at areas we need to be better and we’ll talk about that in the morning and then, we’ll get ready to play Columbus tomorrow night.”
The Jets play again on Friday night at Canada Life Centre as Patrik Laine and the Columbus Blue Jackets come to town. But according to Laine's former 'best friend', it's just another hockey game.
“It will be just like any other NHL game but obviously he was a big part of the Winnipeg Jets, and a very good friend of mine," Ehlers said of No. 29. "So, it will be fun to hopefully get some battles with him during the game tomorrow.”
Game time is set for 7 p.m. on TSN3.
On this night, pride conquered all.
"They put pucks to the goal line; they got in and forechecked," head coach Dave Lowry said post-game. "We tried to make plays at the blue line and turned pucks over. We ended up spending too much time in our own zone."
The Jets opened the scoring at the 8:38 of the first period when Josh Morrissey carried the puck down the left-side boards in Ottawa territory and attempted to make a pass to Blake Wheeler who was alone in front. The pick was tipped by a Senators player and went under Ottawa netminder Anton Forsberg. It was Morrissey's 10th goal of the year. Mark Scheifele (34) and Wheeler (40) drew the assists.
But even though Winnipeg appeared to be in control of the game, the Senators tied it when Brady Tkachuk tipped one past Connor Hellebuyck at 14:03.
The Jets outshot Ottawa 11-8 and seemed to be the better team but they really didn't generate any chances.
Ottawa had the upper hand in the second period, outshooting Winnipeg 11-7, but Hellebuyck was solid and no goals were scored. It was 1-1 heading to the third.
In the third, the Jets had nothing -- no jump, no desire to go to the net and in the end, little to offer the fans who came expecting a big night from the home side.
Ottawa took the lead at 12:25 of the third when Mathieu Joseph was sprung loose down the right wing, he made a great move on Logan Stanley, flipped the puck to Tyler Ennis and Ennis had a wide open net. It was Ennis' eighth of the year and the Jets looked deflated.
Ottawa made it 3-1 a few minutes later when Colin White scored his second of the season on the power play at 14:41.
The Senators put it on ice -- and almost emptied the building -- at 15:40 when Connor Brown scored his 10th of the season by banging home a nice pass from Tim Stutzle on a three-on-two rush.
You could see the Jets play-off hopes evaporating during a three minute and 15 second stretch late in the third period. It was as if they'd completely given up. From start to finish it was a sad performance and if, in the end, the Jets fail to make the post-season, they can look back on the third period of the game against Ottawa on March 24 and remember where it all came crashing down.
“It’s a mindset, wanting to make a difference every single night," Connor said of his team's efforts. "We see how talented our group is, no question about that. It’s just about the willingness to commit, and I think we were a little disjointed tonight, stretching when we don’t need to be, need to support the puck, being too close, leaving guys open, just not making the right reads when we need to. Just a very frustrating game for sure.
Connor scored his 40th with Hellebuyck out of the net at 17:06. It gave Connor a point in nine straight games. It also didn't mean anything of significance other than the milestone itself.
Tkachuk scored his second of the night and 22nd of the season into an empty net at 18:44 and that was it for the night. Ottawa outshot Winnipeg 33-24 and outhit the Jets 28-26.
Winnipeg won 55 per cent of the faceoffs, but Ottawa scored the only power play goal on the only power play of the contest. The officiating was embarrassing to the NHL once again.
“Well, our goal is to win the next game and that’s really what we’ll focus on," coach Lowry said. "We know the position that we’re in and we know the importance of every game. Our focus is to get ready for tomorrow... We’ll look at areas we need to be better and we’ll talk about that in the morning and then, we’ll get ready to play Columbus tomorrow night.”
The Jets play again on Friday night at Canada Life Centre as Patrik Laine and the Columbus Blue Jackets come to town. But according to Laine's former 'best friend', it's just another hockey game.
“It will be just like any other NHL game but obviously he was a big part of the Winnipeg Jets, and a very good friend of mine," Ehlers said of No. 29. "So, it will be fun to hopefully get some battles with him during the game tomorrow.”
Game time is set for 7 p.m. on TSN3.
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