Jets Nation Recap: Jets Fall Short In Shootout Loss In Dallas

Good road games have been hard to come by for the Winnipeg Jets this season. Good road games that end up in wins have been an even rarer occurrence. The Jets achieved the former, but not the latter in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars, deep in the heart of Texas.

 The single point does pull the Jets to within four points of the Nashville Predators for the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference. The Stars retain the best record in the West as well as snapping a three game losing streak.

The Jets played OK in the first period, but a defensive lapse led to a Dallas goal as no one covered Tyler Seguin as he finished off a Patrick Sharp feed for the game’s first goal.

The Jets were much better in the second period, containing the Stars vaunted attack to just four shots in the period. Mathieu Perreault scored the only goal in the middle frame, placing his wrist shot perfectly into the top corner. 

The third was a tight, tense period that saw few chances and a little bit of chippiness that usually happens in divisional games. Both goalies, Connor Hellebuyck and Kari Lehtonen made some timely saves to force overtime.

The Jets had the best chance in overtime as Sharp took a tripping minor early in the extra frame. The Jets had plenty of possession, but generated few scoring opportunities with the man advantage letting Dallas off the hook in the process. 

The shootout saw Dallas get goals from Seguin and Sharp while Andrew Ladd replied for the Jets. Bryan Little had a chance to extend the shootout but his attempt hit the post breaking the Jets hearts.

Powerless Power Play: Once again, the Jets power play failed to produce going 0/3 with the extra man. This is especially frustrating considering the fact the power play went 2/3 on Tuesday night in Nashville. The Jets will have to look at the video of the last two games to see what went right in Nashville and what went wrong in Dallas.

Hellebuyck Solid Again: Breaking news: Connor Hellebuyck might be a good goalie. The rookie netminder wasn’t nearly as busy compared to Tuesday but he still stopped 23 out of 24 shots against a high-powered Dallas side. Hellebuyck is making it very difficult for Michael Hutchinson to see any playing time but he’s also giving Ondrej Pavelec more time to recover from his injury. At this rate, Hellebuyck isn’t just the goalie of the future, he’s the goalie of the present.

Perreault Shines: Mathieu Perreault was the best Jet tonight and not because he scored the lone Jets goal. Perreault was all over the ice, using his vision and creativity to set up his linemates for scoring opportunities as well as playing a sound defensive game. Plus, his beard is awesome! Never shave Mathieu.

All charts courtesy of war-on-ice.com

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