On Connor Hellebuyck Night, the Jets Fall 2-1 to Los Angeles in Overtime

Jets Fall to 28-12-3

On the night the Winnipeg Jets celebrated the accomplishments of goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, his backup did everything he could to be the hero.

Sadly, the Los Angeles Kings’ Adrian Kempe fired a brilliant wrist shot over Eric Comrie’s glove and underneath the cross bar at 1:14 of overtime to give the visitors a 2-1 victory over the hometown Jets.

Before the game, the Jets held a ceremony to honour Hellebuyck’s 300th win. Combined with his 40 shutouts he became the second-fastest goaltender in history to reach those milestones (the legendary Jacque Plante was the fastest). He’s also reached 300/40 faster than any American-born goalie in the annals of the National Hockey League.

And then, he sat down.

It was Comrie’s turn to play on Friday night at Canada Life Centre and the 29-year-old, nine-year NHL veteran who is in his third stint with the Jets played superbly, keeping Winnipeg in a game in which they were out-checked and, for the most part, outskated by the hard-working Kings.

With the OT loss, the Jets fell to 28-12-3 on the season and while they remain in first place in the Central Division, they are now tied with Vegas and Washington for first overall in the NHL with 59 points. The Jets are now 1-2-2 in their last five, 5-3-2 in their last 10 and are 1-1-2 in the first four games of this season-longest, eight-game homestand.

“There was tight checking throughout the whole game and not a lot of space for either team,” said the Jets Gabriel Vilardi, who assisted on Scheifele’s tying goal in the third. “We got a little momentum in the third and were able to get that power play foal. In overtime, we got a couple of looks. Sometimes you score, sometimes you don’t.”

In the first period, the Kings showed how they’ve been successful all season. They checked the Jets into the ice and appeared to open the scoring at 4:01 and a shot from the point by Jordan Spence. However, the Jets challenged, saying that the Kings were offside when they brought the puck into the Jets’ zone and the challenge was upheld. In the end, the “choppy” first period, as described by Vilardi, remained scoreless as L.A. outshot Winnipeg 6-4.

In the second period, Alex Turcotte scored the first goal of the game at 4:39. It gave the Kings a 1-0 lead – a lead that held up until midway through the third period. Kempe started the play by just firing a point shot at the Jets net that Turcotte tipped from inside the right circle past a startled Comrie. The Kings outshot Winnipeg 9-5 in the second period.

The Jets tied it at 10:22 when Kyle Connor made a brilliant behind the back pass to Vilardi in the slot and then Vilardi threw a sensational blind pass to Scheifele who had a wide-open net, and he made no mistake.

Scheifele extended his points streak to four games with his team-leading 24th goal while Connor notched his team-high 54th point with an assist. Vilardi also had an assist, his career high 19th of the season.

Unfortunately for the Jets, despite solid chances by Scheifele and Connor in overtime, Kempe scored the winning goal with a brilliant wrister under the bar.

The Jets outshot Los Angeles 8-7 in the third period and 2-1 in overtime, but L.A. had a 23-19 advantage for the game. The Jets won 51 per cent of the faceoffs and went one-for-two on the power play while the Kings were zero-for-three with the man-advantage. The Jets allowed only one power play goal on the opponents’ last 11 chances.

The full photo gallery from Friday's game is courtesy of James Carey Lauder and Scott Stroh: