There’s just something about the New York Islanders that the Winnipeg Jets struggle with.
The Jets fell again to the Isles 3-2 Tuesday night on Long Island, their fifth straight road loss to New York and ninth in their last eleven meetings overall.
The Jets never had a lead as they suffered their third straight defeat to start the four-game road trip.
“I thought we were right there,” said Jets captain Adam Lowry. “Had a lot of chances, liked the compete. It’s just one of those ones, they played well, they were desperate.
“Watch the tape tomorrow and get ready for the Flyers.”
Josh Morrissey and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for Winnipeg in the loss.
Both of the Jets goals came on the man advantage as they ended an 0-for-19 power play drought, but with no goals at even strength, their goal scoring woes continued as they’ve only notched four markers during their current losing skid.
“We’re having a little bit of a hard time putting the puck in the net right now,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey. “That hasn’t been an issue all year, so I’m not worried about that. The goals are going to start coming, but the effort, the execution, compete, I thought was there a lot more frequently tonight and we’ll have to build on that on the rest of this roadie.”
Winnipeg was badly outshooting the Islanders in the early going with a 10-3 advantage in shots on goal, but the Isles recorded the final 14 straight shots of the opening period. The Jets outshot the Isles in the middle frame and the shots finished 29-28 in favour of New York.
“I liked a lot of our game,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “I thought the whole game our pace and our pressure is back to when it’s at it’s best. I thought that’s a lot of what we did tonight and we’re in a funk right now when it comes to scoring goals. And teams go through these.
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“Just got to stay with it.”
It’s the first time in two months that the Jets have gone three straight games without a win.
Jets forward Rasmus Kupari left the game in the third period after taking an awkward looking tumble, hitting his head into the boards.
“We’ll wait and see,” Arniel said. “Obviously banged his head there, so we’ll just wait and see when we get to tomorrow.”
The Jets played without defenceman Dylan Samberg who missed the game due to family issues. Haydn Fleury dressed instead.
Winnipeg looked to be the better team out of the gate. They also had the game’s first power play and while they did not convert, it was a solid effort by the Jets who began the night mired in a season-long drought when it came to power play success.
However, over the final 8:32 of the period, New York outshot the Jets by a whopping margin of 14-0, leading to the game’s opening goal.
With the Jets shorthanded, the Islanders won a puck battle along the boards, resulting in a couple of penalty killers having to chase the play. The puck went across the ice to Brock Nelson, who sent it back across the ice to a wide-open Kyle Palmieri for a one-timer that Connor Hellebuyck had no chance of stopping.
New York carried that lead into the second and doubled it on the first shot of the period. A breakdown in the neutral zone allowed Nelson to skate the puck deep into Winnipeg’s end all while Maxim Tsyplakov skated towards the net unchecked. The two Islanders executed a perfect give-and-go that resulted in a Nelson tap-in that made it 2-0 just 1:33 into the middle frame.
Winnipeg got on the board at the 8:48 mark as their lagging power play finally caught a break. A Morrissey point shot banked off the skate of Simon Holmstrom and past Ilya Sorokin, snapping an 0-for-19 stretch for the Jets’ power play.
The Jets were the better team for most of the second, outshooting the Islanders 13-7 in the period but New York remained in front 2-1 after 40 minutes.
They regained their two-goal lead just over four minutes into the third. Logan Stanley gave the puck away below his goal line and the Islanders cycled it back to the point where Dauphin native Ryan Pulock blasted a knuckler that skimmed along the ice, off the skate of Kupari and into the net to make it 3-1.
Winnipeg earned their third power play of the night with 8:37 remaining and they made good on the opportunity to make it a one-goal game. The Islanders won the first face-off after the penalty and cleared the puck but after Winnipeg regained the zone, they kept the puck in for almost 90 seconds before Ehlers found the back of the net.
Kyle Connor sent the puck down low for Ehlers, who started the play with his back to the net but quickly swung around to his forehand and beat Sorokin to the blocker-side, making it a one-goal game with 7:09 to go.
Hellebuyck went to the bench for an extra attacker with 1:34 on the clock but the Isles survived a late flurry from the Jets to get a much-needed win as they look to stick around in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Hellebuyck stopped 26 shots in defeat, while Sorokin made 27 saves for the victory.
Winnipeg will look to snap their three-game winless skid when they visit the Flyers on Thursday. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB begins at 4 p.m. with the puck dropping just after 6 p.m.
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