Game four tonight in Vegas isn’t an absolute “must win” game for the Jets, but it’s about as close as one can get.

A loss doesn’t end the series – these two teams will for sure meet again Sunday in Winnipeg – but it would give the Jets zero room for any errors going forward which given how the last two games have turned on errors made by the Jets, it would be somewhat fitting.

Simply put, the Jets had a bad first period where again a lack of skating to their full abilities along with poor passing and even poorer decision making put them behind early (very early) but outside of those first 20 minutes of play and a brief 12 second moment in the second period after they had tied things up, there really hasn’t been that much to be upset about if you’re the Jets. They played a very steady second period and were borderline dominating in the third, only to be stonewalled by Marc-Andre Fleury and that damned beautiful smile of his.

Vegas had the ability to draft both Marc- Andre Fleury and Jonathan Marchessault in last year’s expansion draft. Jets fans will likely see MAF as the biggest reason why the Jets couldn’t tie things up in the latter half of game three, but Marchessault’s play against the Jets in the last two games has been phenomenal as well. The Golden Knights again got a lead on Winnipeg thanks to taking advantage of critical errors made by the Jets and those errors have been made because the Jets simply have issues dealing with the speed of which Vegas plays and being unable to make quick enough decisions.

Two things… One, keep using speed and a very hard forecheck into forcing the Jets to make decisions they aren’t comfortable with. Vegas has been doing that well over the last two games, so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Part two is a bit trickier though. They need to maintain some semblance of offensive minded hockey and not let the Jets come at them in waves and make it open season on MAF. Yes Fleury was good in game two and brilliant in game three and has been Conn Smythe worthy these entire playoffs, but with the kind of offense the Jets have, it’s still a gamble that a team should try to avoid taking if they can.

Get moving early and make quick and sound decisions with the puck. The Jets will need to be ready to skate and keep up with the speed that Vegas will bring right from the opening puck drop. They did that to start the third period in game three and it led to a very early goal in that frame, so there is no reason why it can’t happen again to start tonight’s contest. Paul Maurice may also want to consider switching off Brandon Tanev and Mathieu Perreault. Tanev, for as much as he hustles and never gives up on a play doesn’t have the offensive ability to help set the table for Patrik Laine or Nik Ehlers and the Jets absolutely need to get that second line going tonight. Perreault has had his struggled as well in this series, but is known as more of an offensive driver than Tanev is. If the Jets fall behind again, here is hoping Maurice is willing to juggle things up to get the offense going.

Knights On Ice when breaking down Wednesday’s game three win noted that the Jets second line has been held in check quite nicely:

James Neal left his mark on game three as well while displaying some big time toughness, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

As stated at the start, this isn’t a “must win” but it wouldn’t hurt the Jets to play this with the urgency and speed required of a game seven. As for the game itself? MAF can’t be that good again, can he? Nah. Jets win 3-2.