After a commanding 5-2 win on Saturday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Jets hit the road to begin their season long six game road trip, beginning tonight in Los Angeles. The now 9-3-0 Jets took on the 5-4-4 Kings at Crypto.com Arena, looking to continue their winning ways in this Western conference matchup. The Kings haven’t quite gotten off to the start they’ve wanted, but they were hoping this home game would end their 2 game losing streak. The Jets, wearing their away white jerseys on the road, started off this game somewhat average, and in the end it was the Kings who would spoil Adam Lowry’s return in a low scoring, tight checking 60 minutes of hockey.

Tonight’s Jets lineup was slighty different than last game, as Captain Adam Lowry made his season debut. The 1st line remained the same, but there continues to be some swaps with the rest of the forward lines. Alex Iafallo stayed on the 2nd line with Jonathan Toews and Vladislav Namestnikov. The 3rd line featured Nino Niederreiter, Adam Lowry and Tanner Pearson. Parker Ford centered the 4th line alongside Cole Koepke and Brad Lambert.

The Jets almost made a swap on defence, as Logan Stanley was back up to the 2nd pairing, while Colin Miller was originally added to the 3rd pairing with Luke Schenn in line rushes, before Haydn Fleury was added back in Miller’s spot. Connor Hellebuyck got the start in goal, as he looked to continue his recent success. Hellebuyck was near perfect again tonight, as he tried to do everything he could to keep the Jets in this game, but he didn’t get the offence he needed to help him get the win.

Tonight’s game started with a bit of a slower pace, before Logan Stanley was called for holding 3 minutes in. The Jets top 5 ranked penalty kill went on an early 4 on 5, and shut down the Kings. Shots on goal were only 1-0 Kings 5 minutes into this game, before the Kings were called for too many men on the ice. Just like the Kings, the Jets couldn’t get anything going on the man advantage, and they remained without a shot on goal.

The Jets finally got their 1st shot on goal after the 8 minute mark, and they almost scored on a Josh Morrissey point shot. Gabriel Vilardi was near or slightly in the crease as the puck was shot on net before the puck eventually slid into the goal, and the refs immediately waved it off for no goal. After a coach’s challenge by the Jets, the goal still didn’t count, and the Jets were assessed a bench minor for an incorrect “delay of game” challenge.

Perhaps a lucky moment would then happen for the Jets, as Anze Kopitar got a high sticking penalty just 20 seconds later. The extended 4 on 4 didn’t result in any chances, and the shots on goal were still just 1-1 after 10 minutes played.

It was looking like this would be a scoreless 1st period, but the Kings opened the scoring with 3 minutes left in the 1st. Mikey Anderson made a nice pass around the boards to Joel Armia behind the net. Armia found Adrian Kempe in front, and Kempe wristed one past Hellebuyck (for his 200th career goal) to give the Kings the lead. After 20 minutes played, the Kings led 1-0, with the shots on goal 8-5 also in favour of the Kings.

The Kings tend to be a defense first team, so you knew this game would be probably be low scoring. However, Jets fans remained hopeful that the Jets would get some goals tonight, as they’ve done in 2nd and 3rd period in previous road games. It was intriguing to watch for any changes the Jets would make to their approach for the final 40 minutes.

Brad Lambert took the 2nd period’s 1st penalty 4 minutes in after he high-sticked Mikey Anderson. Alex Turcotte took a hooking penalty 7 minutes later. Each team’s 3rd powerplay was similar to their first two, with not many chances generated. The rest of the 2nd period went without any other penalties, and the score was still 1-0 Kings through 40 minutes played. Shots on goal were still low on both side, just 18-13 Kings.

Just 18 seconds into the 3rd period, Brandt Clarke was called for interference. The Jets powerplay got their 4th opportunity of the night, but couldn’t make much of it as they still sat at only 13 shots on goal. A couple of minutes later the Jets got their 5th powerplay of the night after Kevin Fiala took an unneeded tripping penalty. The Jets powerplay just wasn’t clicking tonight, and another opportunity to tie the game went by pretty quickly without much pressure.

With around 10 minutes to play, the Kings got another powerplay chance after Parker Ford accidentally cleared the puck directly over the glass. After a small scramble in front on the powerplay, Vladislav Namestnikov hit Corey Perry in the face with his stick, resulting in a double minor (4 minute) penalty. The Kings had a golden opportunity to extend their lead on a 5 on 3 but once again the Jets gave them almost no good chances.

With not much time left on the powerplay, Quinton Byfield and Corey Perry set up Kevin Fiala, who sniped one top corner past Hellebuyck to make it 2-0 Kings. 5 minutes remained in this game, and it suddenly became “panic” time if the Jets wanted to get a positive result.

The Jets pulled the goalie with around 2 and a half minutes left, looking to make a last minute comeback. Unfortunately, the Kings shut down the Jets down as they did the rest of the night, and the Jets lost tonight’s game 3-0 after a Drew Doughty empty net goal with 54 seconds left. Entering tonight’s game the Jets were a perfect 4-0-0 on the road, but that record is now 4-1-0 as the Jets will remain on the road for their next five games during their season long six game road trip. Tonight just wasn’t the Jets night, and the Kings executed their defensive game plan to perfection, limiting the Jets chances throughout the 60 minutes.

With the Jets six game road trip now one game done, the Jets regular season schedule continues on Friday in San Jose against the Sharks. Puck drop for this game will be just after 9:00 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.