The Jets were back on the ice tonight at Amalie Arena to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tonight&#8217;s game marks the beginning of a stretch where the Jets are playing 9 out of their next 10 games on the road.
A historic 15-1-0 start was looking to be improved upon for the Jets, while the Lightning were looking to get above .500%, sitting at 7-6-1 prior to the game. This Thursday night hockey game was overall just not quite the typical display of quality Jets 2024-25 hockey.
1st Period
The opening frame was another example of the Jets getting off to a slow start. This hasn&#8217;t happened too frequently, but when it has it&#8217;s quite noticeable in terms of how they&#8217;re playing. The Lightning controlled the play early, making sure to test Jets backup Eric Comrie often.
After an interception by Lightning defenceman Ryan McDonaugh, the Lightning went on the attack. Nick Paul made a drop pass back to Jake Guentzel, who wristed one past Eric Comrie, who didn&#8217;t stand much of a chance. 7 minutes in, the Lightning took a 1-0 lead, and by the time the game was halfway through the 1st, the shots were 7-1 for the Lightning.
Jets fans didn&#8217;t need to panic yet, as they&#8217;ve seen this team battle back down early multiple times this season. The offence picked up for the Jets, and eventually the shots were evened up at 7. Teams traded chances for the rest of the 1st, but nobody was able to add to the scoring.
Michael Eyssimont took an unsportsmanlike conduct against Nino Niederreiter for trying to fight him after he was hit, which gave the Jets their 1st powerplay with 56 seconds remaining in the 1st. The league&#8217;s number 1 powerplay, sitting at around a 42% success rate went to work, but couldn&#8217;t tie up this game by the end of the 1st. Going into the 2nd period, the Lightning remained as the team with that extra &#8220;jump&#8221;, resulting in them having a deserving lead and a 10-7 lead in shots.
2nd Period
The pace of the game picked up in the 2nd. The 2nd half of the powerplay didn&#8217;t see the Jets get any more shots on goal. It was the Lightning who used the momentum of killing off the man advantage that would soon give them a 2-0 lead.
Brandon Hagel started the play by circling the puck back to the point. The puck made its way back to Hagel, who walked in and fired one past Comrie to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead. Only 34 seconds after, the Lightning had a chance to increase their lead, as Dylan DeMelo took a hooking penalty against Connor Geekie.
Some quality puck movement from the Lightning ensued, and before the Jets could settle down it was 3-0 for the Lightning. Nikita Kucherov sent it back to Victor Hedman, who fired one on goal from the point. Anthony Cirelli deflected it past Comrie for his 3rd goal of the season, making it 3-0 for the Lightning.
Down 3, the Jets finally started to pick up their play and sense of urgency, as they knew they would need to get on the board as soon as possible. Haydn Fleury passed one across to Colin Miller, who did one of his booming slap shots on net. There were at least 5 players out in front, and Adam Lowry deflected the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy to get the Jets on the board.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Dodge, duck, dip, dive, dodge and DEFLECT! <a href="https://t.co/jFxzZY2giO">pic.twitter.com/jFxzZY2giO</a>
&mdash; Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) <a href="https://twitter.com/NHLJets/status/1857232761062334479?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Just over a minute after this goal, the Jets went back on the powerplay for the 2nd time this game. Erik Cernak tripped Kyle Connor, and opportunity number 2 for the league&#8217;s top powerplay was on its way. This powerplay looked better than the 1st one, with better puck movement, but still wasn&#8217;t good enough to narrow the Lightning lead.
As the 2nd period went on, the Jets were playing better, but for the most part the Lightning remained as the team controlling the majority of the play. It felt like the Jets had more than 13 shots on goal by the end of the 2nd period, but that&#8217;s all they had. The Lightning led in shots after 2 by a total of 22-13, and continued to lead on the scoreboard 3-1.
Cole Perfetti took a late hooking penalty against Brandon Hagel with 19 seconds left in the 2nd. The Jets prevented the Lightning from going ahead 4-1 before the end of the 2nd. At the end of the 2nd, I couldn&#8217;t help but ask: could the Jets find a way to flip the script and come back to win this game in the 3rd period?
3rd Period
The 3rd period started with the Jets defending the remaining 1:41 left on the Lightning powerplay. The Jets wanted to get more shots on goal in the final 20 minutes, and they managed to get 2 on net within the first 3 minutes.
Some chances continued for the Jets, but 8 minutes into the 3rd period it was still 3-1 for the Lightning. A tie up after a puck was flipped upwards led to Guentzel getting a holding call against Dylan DeMelo. The 0/2 Jets powerplay with 0 shots on the advantage tonight went to work.
This powerplay, the Jets did manage to get a few shots on Vasilevskiy, but none past him. 2 minutes later, Vasilevskiy took a tripping penalty while defending his crease area, a rare penalty call on a goaltender. Powerplay number 4 for the Jets began, but once again nothing came from the Jets man advantage.
Right after Nikita Kucherov exited the box (serving the penalty for Vasilevskiy), Nino Niederreiter took a hooking penalty on Kucherov. The Lightning went on their 3rd powerplay of the game, trying to seal this game with a 4th goal. Comrie made a great save, and Kyle Connor almost scored a highlight reel short handed goal, as the Lightning powerplay came up empty.
The Jets only had a little over 4 minutes left at this point to try to score 2 more goals. Despite some good battles and a valiant late push, the Jets could not find a way to get another puck past Vasilevskiy. Jake Guentzel wrapped this game up with an empty net tap in with 21 seconds remaining.
A 2 second powerplay occured at the very end of the game because of a slash by Michael Eyssimont. The puck dropped, and the final score was 4-1 for the Lightning, as Andrei Vasilevskiy became the fastest goalie to reach 300 career wins, in only 490 games. Final shots on goal were 29-25 for the Lightning, and a big deciding factor in this game was the Jets powerplay not striking on any of their 4 full opportunities.
Overall, it was a solid effort at times for the Jets, but they still ended up falling to 15-2-0 on the season. Next up for the Jets is another tough matchup, against Paul Maurice and the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers. Puck drop for this game is at 6:00 pm CT, and as always stay tuned here on Jets Nation for both pre and post game articles.

The Jets were back on the ice tonight at Amalie Arena to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tonight's game marks the beginning of a stretch where the Jets are playing 9 out of their next 10 games on the road.

A historic 15-1-0 start was looking to be improved upon for the Jets, while the Lightning were looking to get above .500%, sitting at 7-6-1 prior to the game. This Thursday night hockey game was overall just not quite the typical display of quality Jets 2024-25 hockey.

1st Period

The opening frame was another example of the Jets getting off to a slow start. This hasn't happened too frequently, but when it has it's quite noticeable in terms of how they're playing. The Lightning controlled the play early, making sure to test Jets backup Eric Comrie often.

After an interception by Lightning defenceman Ryan McDonaugh, the Lightning went on the attack. Nick Paul made a drop pass back to Jake Guentzel, who wristed one past Eric Comrie, who didn't stand much of a chance. 7 minutes in, the Lightning took a 1-0 lead, and by the time the game was halfway through the 1st, the shots were 7-1 for the Lightning.

Jets fans didn't need to panic yet, as they've seen this team battle back down early multiple times this season. The offence picked up for the Jets, and eventually the shots were evened up at 7. Teams traded chances for the rest of the 1st, but nobody was able to add to the scoring.

Michael Eyssimont took an unsportsmanlike conduct against Nino Niederreiter for trying to fight him after he was hit, which gave the Jets their 1st powerplay with 56 seconds remaining in the 1st. The league's number 1 powerplay, sitting at around a 42% success rate went to work, but couldn't tie up this game by the end of the 1st. Going into the 2nd period, the Lightning remained as the team with that extra "jump", resulting in them having a deserving lead and a 10-7 lead in shots.

2nd Period

The pace of the game picked up in the 2nd. The 2nd half of the powerplay didn't see the Jets get any more shots on goal. It was the Lightning who used the momentum of killing off the man advantage that would soon give them a 2-0 lead.

Brandon Hagel started the play by circling the puck back to the point. The puck made its way back to Hagel, who walked in and fired one past Comrie to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead. Only 34 seconds after, the Lightning had a chance to increase their lead, as Dylan DeMelo took a hooking penalty against Connor Geekie.

Some quality puck movement from the Lightning ensued, and before the Jets could settle down it was 3-0 for the Lightning. Nikita Kucherov sent it back to Victor Hedman, who fired one on goal from the point. Anthony Cirelli deflected it past Comrie for his 3rd goal of the season, making it 3-0 for the Lightning.

Down 3, the Jets finally started to pick up their play and sense of urgency, as they knew they would need to get on the board as soon as possible. Haydn Fleury passed one across to Colin Miller, who did one of his booming slap shots on net. There were at least 5 players out in front, and Adam Lowry deflected the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy to get the Jets on the board.

[embed]https://twitter.com/NHLJets/status/1857232761062334479[/embed]

Just over a minute after this goal, the Jets went back on the powerplay for the 2nd time this game. Erik Cernak tripped Kyle Connor, and opportunity number 2 for the league's top powerplay was on its way. This powerplay looked better than the 1st one, with better puck movement, but still wasn't good enough to narrow the Lightning lead.

As the 2nd period went on, the Jets were playing better, but for the most part the Lightning remained as the team controlling the majority of the play. It felt like the Jets had more than 13 shots on goal by the end of the 2nd period, but that's all they had. The Lightning led in shots after 2 by a total of 22-13, and continued to lead on the scoreboard 3-1.

Cole Perfetti took a late hooking penalty against Brandon Hagel with 19 seconds left in the 2nd. The Jets prevented the Lightning from going ahead 4-1 before the end of the 2nd. At the end of the 2nd, I couldn't help but ask: could the Jets find a way to flip the script and come back to win this game in the 3rd period?

3rd Period

The 3rd period started with the Jets defending the remaining 1:41 left on the Lightning powerplay. The Jets wanted to get more shots on goal in the final 20 minutes, and they managed to get 2 on net within the first 3 minutes.

Some chances continued for the Jets, but 8 minutes into the 3rd period it was still 3-1 for the Lightning. A tie up after a puck was flipped upwards led to Guentzel getting a holding call against Dylan DeMelo. The 0/2 Jets powerplay with 0 shots on the advantage tonight went to work.

This powerplay, the Jets did manage to get a few shots on Vasilevskiy, but none past him. 2 minutes later, Vasilevskiy took a tripping penalty while defending his crease area, a rare penalty call on a goaltender. Powerplay number 4 for the Jets began, but once again nothing came from the Jets man advantage.

Right after Nikita Kucherov exited the box (serving the penalty for Vasilevskiy), Nino Niederreiter took a hooking penalty on Kucherov. The Lightning went on their 3rd powerplay of the game, trying to seal this game with a 4th goal. Comrie made a great save, and Kyle Connor almost scored a highlight reel short handed goal, as the Lightning powerplay came up empty.

The Jets only had a little over 4 minutes left at this point to try to score 2 more goals. Despite some good battles and a valiant late push, the Jets could not find a way to get another puck past Vasilevskiy. Jake Guentzel wrapped this game up with an empty net tap in with 21 seconds remaining.

A 2 second powerplay occured at the very end of the game because of a slash by Michael Eyssimont. The puck dropped, and the final score was 4-1 for the Lightning, as Andrei Vasilevskiy became the fastest goalie to reach 300 career wins, in only 490 games. Final shots on goal were 29-25 for the Lightning, and a big deciding factor in this game was the Jets powerplay not striking on any of their 4 full opportunities.

Overall, it was a solid effort at times for the Jets, but they still ended up falling to 15-2-0 on the season. Next up for the Jets is another tough matchup, against Paul Maurice and the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers. Puck drop for this game is at 6:00 pm CT, and as always stay tuned here on Jets Nation for both pre and post game articles.

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