Welcome to the final month of the 2024-25 NHL regular season. Tonight, the Jets began game 1 of 3 of a Western Conference road trip against the Los Angeles Kings. The Jets ended their 4 game home stand with 3 straight wins, and are now focused on securing 1st place in the Central Division. The Dallas Stars can’t seem to lose lately, so the Jets will need to continue their winning ways in order to keep a gap between them. The Kings entered tonight’s game 2 points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers for 2nd place in the Pacific Division. The Kings have the best home record this season at 27-4-4, so the Jets knew that they would need to be at their best in order to skate away with the 2 points. After 2 quick goals by the Kings near midway in the 1st, the Jets couldn’t muster up enough offence to get back in this game. Here’s how the Jets began their 3 game Western road trip on this Tuesday night.

Puck drop was at 9:47 pm CT, setting up for a late night of hockey for viewers in Winnipeg. The season series entering their final matchup of this season was 2-0 Kings (before this game), with the previous scores 4-1 and 2-1 Kings. This game started off pretty slow paced, with only a few shots for each team after 8 minutes of play.

Trevor Moore opened the scoring for the Kings with his 17th of the season. A failed clearing attempt by the Jets went back to Joel Edmundson at the point, who snapped one on goal, A screened Connor Hellebuyck didn’t know where the puck was headed, and it was redirected by Trevor Moore near the side of the goal, giving the Kings the lead.

Just over a minute later, the Kings would make it 2-0 on their 4th shot on the game. The Jets were caught getting back following a turnover that was collected by Adrian Kempe. The puck was then dropped back to Andrei Kuzmenko, who found Anze Kopitar across at the faceoff dot, before he fired one past Hellebuyck, who didn’t have much of a chance on this one.

With 6 minutes left in the 1st, Mason Appleton almost made it a 2-1 game, but he missed a tap in from up close, and then nearly avoided taking a goalie interference penalty. Appleton’s chance was the closest the Jets got the scoring in the 1st period, as they continued to be down 2-0 after 20 minutes. The 1st period didn’t have a single penalty, and the Kings led in shots on goal 10-7. It was a less than ideal start for the Jets, but there were some signs from their play that indicated they were still in this game.

The Jets got off to a solid start in the 2nd period, generating some scoring chances on Darcy Kuemper. 9 minutes into the 2nd, Connor Hellebuyck picked up a rare goalie penalty after tripping Kevin Fiala. Recently, the Jets penalty kill has been top notch, and that continued tonight. The two minute advantage for the Kings came and went, and the Jets seemed to gain some momentum from the successful penalty kill.

10 seconds after the penalty expired, Cole Perfetti scored his 17th of the season. Morgan Barron blocked a shot from Quinton Byfield and collected the puck in the Jets zone. Barron sent a pass up to Perfetti near centre ice, and Perfetti entered the Kings zone, cutting to the net, before snapping one past Kuemper to make it 2-1.

Hoping to get the game tying goal, the Jets continued to push after the Perfetti goal. 5 minutes later, Andrei Kuzmenko made it 3-1 for the Kings with his 10th of the season. Logan Stanley was trying to carry the puck up from his own zone, but near centre ice he was picked off by Kuzmenko. After making his way into the Jets zone, Kuzmenko had his eyes on a pass to Adrian Kempe, but quickly wristed one under Hellebuyck. After 40 minutes, the Kings led 3-1, with the shots in the 2nd period 8-6 Kings.

The first 5 minutes of the 3rd period went by without anything too exciting happen, before Vladislav Gavrikov tripped Nikolaj Ehlers. The number 1 ranked powerplay in the league got their 1st man advantage of the night, but they couldn’t get one past Kuemper. Shots on goal in the 3rd with 10 minutes to go were only 3-1 Jets.

With 5 minutes to play, the Jets went back on the powerplay for the 2nd time in the 3rd period. Ehlers drew his 2nd tripping call of the night, as Byfield went to the box. With 5 minutes to go, this was a golden opportunity for the Jets to bring this game within 1 goal, but again the powerplay was unsuccessful.

The Jets would pull the goalie with a little over 2 minutes left, trying for a final push at making this game closer. There was some good effort by the Jets on the 6 on 5, but eventually Adrian Kempe put this game away with an empty netter with 55 seconds left to play. The Jets held the Kings to just 2 shots in the 3rd, leading 6-2 in the shots on goal in the 3rd, but that wasn’t enough to get back in this game. Final shots on goal were 20-19 for the Kings.

This 4-1 loss felt justifiable, playing against a team that doesn’t seem to lose at home very often this season. Turnovers (in some fashion) were the cause of the Kings first 3 goals, which just can’t happen. Overall, it just wasn’t the best game by the Jets at times, and the powerplay couldn’t cash in on their chances to make this game closer in the 3rd period. Up next for the Jets is a trip to Vegas to play the Golden Knights, a team who just clinched their playoff spot tonight. Puck drop on Thursday night will be at 9 pm CT, and make sure as always to check back that day for a preview of this matchup between two division leaders.