After falling behind 3-0 to the Dallas Stars halfway through the game, it felt like all hope was lost for the night, but to their credit the Winnipeg Jets fought back to tie things up in the third period but couldn’t finish the deal as a @Jamie Benn goal with under five minutes left to play snapped the Jets three game win streak. Jets end a pretty decent road trip on a sour note with a 5-3 loss to the Stars.

A steady pace and some decent back and forth play from both teams in the first period with no goals scored. Making passes did appear to be a struggle for both teams as the puck seemed extra bouncy leading to some missed chances from both sides. The Stars as you would expect out-shot the Jets 13-10 in the first 20 minutes of play and had a 9-6 edge in 5 on 5 scoring chances. Winnipeg held their own in the period and were a bit closer when it came to high danger scoring chances, only behind 4-3 to Dallas in that department, but as it has been for most of this season it sure felt like the Jets didn’t attack the middle of the ice nearly enough.

It was especially frustrating when the Jets had the lone power play of the period early on and left Patrik Laine – ya know, the guy who can’t not score against Dallas – on the bench for all but 30 seconds of it.

0-0 after one period of play and it felt like a bit of a victory for the Jets overall.

The Stars continued to press for the opening goal and the Jets seemingly were willing to let them have repeated tries at the middle of the ice in front of Hellebuyck until it happened and when it happened, it happened often starting at the 7:37 mark when @Mattias Janmark took advantage of a juicy rebound off a @Andrej Sekera shot.

Two minutes later the Jets gave up a second goal on a fantastic tipped puck from @Jason Dickinson that Hellebuyck had no chance on.

Then four minutes after that got it just got weird as the bouncing puck issues that had been prevalent all game really messed things up for Hellebuyck and the Jets.

 

The goal scored by @Radek Faksa to make it 3-0 Dallas with over half the game gone did feel like a bit of a back breaker, or at least it would have if this was any other version of the Jets. Thankfully these Jets seem to keep pressing on and less than a minute after Faksa scored, the Jets got on the boar thanks to @Kyle Connor.

The period ended with a 3-1 Stars lead and while shots in the period were only 9-8 for Dallas, scoring chances were 10-6 for Dallas and the lone hope for Winnipeg on the night was that score effects took over a bit and gave the Jets a chance in the third period.

Sure enough, with a two goal lead for Dallas, the Stars were a bit guilty of letting up and the Jets back into the game. It also didn’t hurt that the Jets seemed to remember that getting to the slot area around the Stars goal was also a good idea as the benefited from a lucky bounce of Patrik Laine’s chest for their second goal of the game.

With ol’ uncle ‘mo clearly riding with the Jets, Winnipeg continued to pepper @Ben Bishop and the Stars and with just a shade under five minutes left in the game, got the game back even at 3-3 with a goal from…

*checks notes*

@Luca Sbisa?!

While everyone remained stunned that Luca Sbisa scored an NHL goal in 2019, @Jamie Benn seemed pissed about it and 25 seconds later scored to give Dallas the 4-3 lead.

So much “oof” on that play with multiple mistakes that you can be sure will be covered in tomorrow’s “Jets Day After”

The Jets didn’t have another goal in them as they fought back valiantly down three but couldn’t overcome a deficit yet again and Tyler Seguin scored on an empty net goal to salt the game away 5-3.

The Dallas Stars attacked the slot area pretty much all game with the Jets defense unable to handle the pressure and Hellebuyck unable to steal yet another win even though with 31 saves on 35 shots, he sure did try. Winnipeg was just to passive at both ends of the ice and didn’t match the Stars’ intensity.

This game could have been 5-0 or even 6-0 halfway through if not for the heroics of Hellebuyck who made quite a few big stops early on. You can argue he needed to be better on a couple of the goals – the Benn game winning goal especially – but the game could have been well over before that had he not stood on his head early on.

The road trip is over, but in a way it really isn’t. The Jets will now go home for a game and take on the Columbus Blue Jackets before heading back out on the road for a west coast swing. The game against the Jackets is a 6 PM start on Saturday night and will be on Sportsnet’s Hockey Night In Canada and TSN 1290 on the radio.