Jets Nation Recap: Jets lose… no one likes losing

8 years ago

The Winnipeg Jets were unable to stop the train that is the Los Angeles Kings, as the Kings rolled over the Jets to earn their sixth consecutive win.

The Kings controlled most of the shot attempts for 5v5 situations, although the Jets were able to keep many at the outside and keep the scoring chances somewhat even. It wasn’t enough though as Milan Lucic pushed the Kings ahead late in the third and the Jets were unable to come back.

No goals were scored in the first, despite the teams trading off some chances. One of the best chances was a shot by Nikolaj Ehlers where the budding star beat Jonathan Quick only to hit the crossbar.

Where the hockey gods were not smiling on Ehlers with the crossbar shot, they made up later in the second. The speedy Dane picked up a loose puck in the corner and cycled back to the blue line; he turned around with a spinning shot that pinballed into the net for his fourth career goal.

Jake Muzzin tied the game, scoring seven minutes later with a rocket of a shot.

The Jets and Kings continued to trade off chances until Lucic scored off of an oddman rush from a nice play from Tyler Toffoli. The goal came after a bit of a messy play, and the Jets may want to look at how the team responded –especially Tyler Myers– after an offensive zone faceoff draw.

The Jets pulled the Ondrej Pavelec twice, trying to drive some offense, each coming from Tyler Toffoli and Trevor Lewis.

THREE KEYS

Goalie Battle: It’s not everyday that a goaltender battle ends up with a score 4-1, but that’s what two empty-net goals do, and here we are. Ondrej Pavelec was exceptional (although he probably wants the Lucic one back), stopping 93.3 per cent of the 30 shots against, unfortunately Jonathan Quick was just a little bit better with a 0.960 save percentage.

Offense Dries Up: The Winnipeg Jets came into the game as the highest scoring team in the Western Conference. Unfortunately though the Jets were unable to solve the Kings strong defense and Quick. This included Blake Wheeler, who had his 8 game point streak halted, despite an exceptional play on the Penalty Kill early in the game.

Nikolaj Ehlers, good at hockey: Really the title says it all. Really all you have to do is watch him. But, numbers also point out how amazing of a player Ehlers truly is. The Dashing Dane was able to generate a ton of chances. He’s raw, and makes mistakes, but you can see why the Jets are excited over this exceptional skater.