Jets Nation Recap: The Second Period, Again!! Rangers Edition

The Rangers showed why they are in first place as the Jets once again had a nightmare of a second period. Four goals in the second, three on Connor Hellebuyck and one on the first shot against Michael Hutchinson once the hook had come out, were more than the Jets could come back from.

The Jets now head home to face Dallas on Tuesday before flying out west for a back-to-back against Arizona on Thursday and Colorado on Friday and rounding out the week back home against LA next Sunday afternoon. Something tells me ‘goaltending’ might come up in discussion throughout the week, too.

After the jump, we’ll look a little closer at the Jets’ seventh loss of the season.

The Rangers scored early on a blast from the point by Kevin Hayes. It looked like it could be a tough slog for the Jets being down so early but they bounced back and tied the game up on a Patrik Laine tip-in of a Ben Chiarot slapper. That was Laine’s 8th goal of the year, putting him tied for most in the league with Sidney Crosby. At the first intermission that game was tied and it felt like the Jets were very much in it.

Then the second period happened (again).

The Rangers are quick and talented and good and showed why they lead the league in goals as they chased Connor Hellebuyck (high glove, high glove!) with 4 goals on 16 shots. Things went from bad to worse when the Rangers scored on their first shot on Michael Hutchinson to make it 5-2. The Jets second goal came when Mark Schiefele banged home a rebound of Paul Postma’s. Postma was set up by a great feed from Nikolaj Ehlers, who had another strong game. His speed was evident throughout the game as he had several breakaway chances but couldn’t put the puck past Lundqvist.

The third period was fairly uneventful as the Rangers pulled back and the Jets couldn’t mount any sort comeback. The Jets controlled most of the play (the Rangers had 0 shots on net in the the third!) but couldn’t get many pucks to the net or any sustained pressure. The goalie was pulled with thee minutes left and the Jets couldn’t get one.