After a rather disappointing 3-0 loss on Sunday afternoon the Jets hit the road to begin a five game road trip. Capital One Arena was the host for tonight’s game, as the Capitals did a special pre-game ceremony to celebrate Alex Ovechkin reaching 900 career goals. The 12-9-0 Jets took on the 12-9-2 Washington Capitals, with these two teams separated by just two points in the NHL league standings. The Capitals entered tonight’s game on a strong 4-1 stretch over their past 5 games.

There was several lineup changes for the Jets tonight, as they looked to shake up the 2nd, 3rd and 4th forward lines. Tanner Pearson and Cole Perfetti were centered by Vladislav Namestnikov on line 2, Adam Lowry centered Nino Niederreiter and Alex Iafallo on line 3, and Toews slid down to the 4th line to centre Morgan Barron and Gustav Nyquist.

Elias Salomonsson made his NHL debut on the 2nd pairing with Dylan Samberg, replacing the injured Neal Pionk. Colin Miller remained on the 3rd pairing (over Luke Schenn) with Logan Stanley. Eric Comrie got the start in goal, his 3rd start in a row since the Jets announced that Hellebuyck will be out for 4-6 weeks. Comrie entered tonight’s game with a 4-3-0 record, a 3.01 GAA and a .895 SV%. Tonight’s game didn’t start off well for the Jets, but they would battle back to make it a close game, but just not close enough, as they lost tonight in Washington.

Tonight’s game started with the Capitals generating the first few scoring chances. Both teams battled for the first portion of the game, before the Capitals opened the scoring at the 6:38 mark. Tom Wilson set up John Carlson on a rush, who fired a slap shot under the blocker of Comrie and into the back of the net.

Teams stayed out of the penalty box until late in the 1st, and with just over 5 minutes left in the 1st, the Capitals doubled their lead. Ethan Frank and Sonny Milano set up Jakob Chyrchrun at the point, and the offensive defencemen fired a perfect snap shot up and over Comrie’s glove into the top corner to make it 2-0 Capitals.

The Jets looked a little rattled after this goal, but they were still trying to generate chances. The Jets 1st line played great all night tonight, and they would get the Jets within 1 with 22 seconds left in the 1st. After a face off win, a breakout pass by John Carlson was intercepted by Kyle Connor. Without any hesitation, Connor centered the puck in front for Vilardi, who snap one quickly past Charlie Lindgren to make it 2-1.

With 10 seconds left in the 1st, Dylan Strome and Vladislav Namestnikov took roughing penalties, with Strome picking up an extra 2 minutes. The Jets would get their 1st powerplay of the night to start the 2nd period, and the shots on goal after 20 minutes were 11-6 Capitals.

The 1st Jets powerplay of the night was a success, as the Jets tied this game in the later stages of their man advantage. Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi sent the puck behind the net to each other, before feeding Josh Morrissey at the point. Morrissey fired a wrister on goal, and Gabriel Vilardi deflected the puck nicely past Lindgren to tie this game at two.

Vilardi’s 10th of the season was his 100th career goal in the NHL. The Capitals continued to be heavily in front in the shots on goal total, but the Jets top line did what they love to do: score goals. Unfortunately for the Jets, this game only remained tied for 4 minutes. Anthony Beauvillier and Matt Roy set up Alex Ovechkin at the point, who fired a snap shot that fooled Comrie to once again give the Capitals the lead.

Ovi’s 908th career goal was one that Comrie probably wished he could’ve saved (despite being screened), but he did well the rest of the period to stop the Capitals from further extending their lead. After 40 minutes played, the Capitals led 3-2, as they outshot the Jets 15-6 in the 2nd frame. With a few seconds remaining, Morgan Barron took an unfortunate tripping penalty along the boards while battling with Rasmus Sandin. Despite the Jets being outshot 26-12 after the 2nd, it felt like the Jets weren’t ready to give up just yet.

The Capitals generated a few chances on their 1st powerplay of the night, but the Jets did well to limit these chances to shots from distance. After the advantage the pace of play was still up there, which benefitted the Capitals. After the Jets lost the puck at the point after a drop pass, Connor McMichael collected the puck and was in on a breakaway. McMichael made a nice move to the backhand, and fired the puck past Comrie to give the Capitals a 4-2 lead.

Two minutes later, Brandon Duhaime was called for cross-checking on Vladislav Namestnikov, sending the Jets on the powerplay.  The 2nd powerplay of the night featured several chances for the Jets, but they weren’t able to make this a one goal game. As mentioned earlier, the Jets top line looked great throughout this game, heavily carrying the Jets offensive chances.

Jonathan Toews had his stick on the ice at the wrong place and wrong time, and was called for tripping on Anthony Beauvillier. The Capitals had a chance to pretty much clinch the win on this powerplay with 8 minutes to go, but the Jets shut them down in this important spot. With 5 minutes to go, after a missed high stick on Mark Scheifele, the Jets top line went to work again. Kyle Connor set up Dylan DeMelo at the point, who fired one on goal. After a deflection in front, Mark Scheifele found the puck and snapped one past Lindgren to cut the Capitals lead to 4-3.

With just over 1:30 left, the Jets sent Comrie to the bench for the extra attacker. Cole Perfetti made a nice save on a chance from the Capitals with the net empty, and then the Jets top line went back on the ice. With 14 seconds left, after an offside, the Jets took their timeout, but after play resumed, they couldn’t find a late equalizer (despite a late chance at the buzzer), and they fell 4-3 in Washington tonight. Final shots on goal were 34-21 for the Capitals, who held on for the winner after being the better team for the majority of this game.

With the Jets five game road streak now one game done, the Jets regular season schedule continues with a game on Friday afternoon against the Carolina Hurricanes. Puck drop for this game will be just after 4:00 pm CT. Stay tuned here at Jets Nation for all of the latest Jets news, plus previews and recaps on each Jets game this season.