It was the tale of two games as the Jets played their best against Nashville last game, and their worst against Dallas in this one. Whether it was the hangover from clinching the playoffs, or fatigue from a big win against the Predators, the Jets didn’t quite have the jump in their step as they fell to the Dallas Stars five to two.

Coming off an emotional victory against Nashville, the Jets struggled to match that intensity in the early going. The Stars were able to control most of the play even though both teams got some chances. There were partial breakaways on both sides, but the goalies stood tall in the early going. The Jets even benefited from a phenomenal stick save and it wasn’t even from Connor Hellebuyck. It was a rebound opportunity with Hellebuyck totally out of position. Scheifele was able to get into the crease and knock the puck out of midair with his stick to stop a sure goal.

Neither team was able to get one across the goal line despite plenty of chances so the teams headed into the first intermission tied at zero.

The second period started similar to the first as both teams had some opportunities, but nobody was able to score. The Stars had a dangerous looking powerplay as Laine was sent to the box for hooking. It was certainly better than the Jets powerplay earlier in the game that struggled to get anything going.

Finally, midway through the game, there was a goal scored. The Stars were able to get one through traffic, just inside the post, to beat Hellebuyck and breakup his shutout streak.

The Jets had been struggling with their defense off the rush all game as they repeatedly gave up odd-man rushes. It came back to bite them shortly after the first goal as Faksa got free behind the Jets defense.

He snapped another past Hellebuyck and Dallas doubled their lead less than two minutes after opening the scoring.

Things went from bad to worse as the Jets took another penalty, this time on Dimitri Kulikov. While the Stars were on the man-advantage, the Jets lost their mind and skated around with five players on the ice. The refs noticed immediately and called another penalty to put the Jets down to three men.

The Stars promptly scored another goal and widened their lead to three goals.

It was a truly awful period for the Jets as they took bad penalties and didn’t bother defending for most of the period.

It will take a heroic effort if they are going to make a comeback in the third period.

It was more of the same from Winnipeg in the third period as they took another penalty and allowed another powerplay goal. Seguin got his second of the game from a bad angle as Hellebuyck couldn’t get across the crease in time.

With the Stars now up 4-0, the Jets were finally able to answer as Connor continued his recent hot streak. Hayes did all the work on a 2 on 1 and Connor was able to slide it into the empty net.

The Jets were able to score another goal late as Laine blasted his 30th of the season on the powerplay.

The comeback stopped there and the Stars added a late empty net goal to seal the deal.

With Hellebuyck having back to back shutouts, the Jets have been playing some really solid defense lately. That wasn’t the case in this game as they allowed the Stars to get tons of offensive chances. The Jets allowed odd-man rushes, partial breakaways, and far too many powerplays. It was a poor effort, especially considering how well they have played in the last few games.

It wasn’t a great game for the penalty kill either as the Jets struggled while down a man. They did a poor job at limiting zone entries as the Stars repeatedly set up and had plenty of time to work the puck around.

Patrik Laine scored his 30th of the season late in the game which gives him three straight 30+ goal seasons to begin his career. Obviously Laine hasn’t quite scored at the same rate as previous years, but having another 30 goal season is very impressive.