To be fair this game shouldn’t have been in doubt after 20 minutes and you could argue after the full sixty the Jets maybe deserved a bit better. In the end a 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings was the correct result as the Jets drop their fourth game of this this five game home-stand.

So much for the slowly improving Jets.

The first period was a near disaster for the Jets as the Kings out-shot them 21-5 – a shot total helped out by a couple of Jets penalties as well in the early part of the game – and took a 1-0 lead halfway into the first period.

This game could have been over early, but @Connor Hellebuyck was fantastic keeping the Jets in the game with a number of great saves and a little help from the iron as well.

Somewhat remarkably the Jets were able to tie things up on just their fourth shot of the game off of a bit of a scramble and @Kyle Connor’s first even strength goal of the season.

So despite being almost completely dominated, the Jets escape the period tied. Hockey is a funny sport.

It didn’t get much better for the Jets in the early part of the second period as again the Kings came out firing pucks at Hellebuyck and on one particular onslaught it had looked he bailed the Jets out again, but the video review team in Toronto stepped in and pointed out that the puck did indeed cross the line for a 2-1 Kings lead.

Winnipeg was starting to tilt the ice in their favor as the second period moved on and actually out-shot the Kings 12-11 in the middle frame with the turning point seemingly being the fact that Paul Maurice mixed up the top two lines and even more importantly separated @Mark Scheifele and @Blake Wheeler and the blender seemed to work out a bit as again though the Jets evened things up about eight minutes later with a nice set up off the face-off and a beautiful deflection by @Nikolaj Ehlers.

The teams again were tied after two periods, but it could have just as easily been a Jets lead if not for a couple of misses.

The Jets hindered themselves with a couple of penalties and it was the first penalty they took in the third period that cost them dearly as @Anze Kopitar burned past the defense for a go-ahead Kings goal.

The Jets continued to press for the tying goal, but couldn’t beat Kings goalie @Jonathan Quick and when they did, they couldn’t quite get the puck in the goal.

Jets get 11 more shots on goal but none of them go in and the Kings hang on for a 3-2 win in Winnipeg.

A super slow start damn near doomed the Jets early on and despite Hellebuyck’s heroics, they had to play from behind almost the entire game and could never get ahead.

Hellebuyck had a .927 save percentage and without his effort in the first period, the game would have been well over after 20 minutes of play with the Kings up by multiple goals.

The Jets will now take it outside next as they head to Regina, Saskatchewan for their second ever Heritage Classic game, this time against the Calgary Flames. Puck drop is scheduled for 9 PM CST (keep your eye on that as weather could always play a part in the actual opening puck drop) and the game will be broadcast on Sportsnet on TV and TSN 1290 on the radio.