After winning their first game this past Tuesday, Jan. 7th, in four games, the Jets began a home-and-home set of back-to-back games this evening, facing the Los Angeles Kings at Canada Life Centre.

Prior to puck drop tonight, there was a ceremony celebrating Connor Hellebuyck for several remarkable milestones: his 500th career game, his 40th shutout, and, of course, his 300th NHL win against the Predators on Tuesday. As part of the celebration, Hellebuyck was presented with the first silver goalie stick in Winnipeg Jets franchise history in honor of his 500th game. He also received a golden goalie stick from the NHL for his 300th win. A tribute video on the jumbotron featured appearances from multiple former Jets, including Andrew Copp, Laurent Brossoit, and the legendary Dustin Byfuglien. The crowd erupted when Buff appeared on screen.

Oh man, was this a slow period. Both teams were locked down defensively throughout the frame. The only notable action came when the Kings had a goal disallowed due to former Jet Trevor Lewis being offside. Had the goal counted, it would’ve been Jordan Spence’s third of the season. He fired a shot through a maze of bodies that went past Eric Comrie.

Comrie had to come up big after Logan Stanley turned the puck over while attempting a pass, stopping Phillip Danault on a tight chance.

With 4:06 remaining in the first period, the Kings went to the power play after Dylan DeMelo was called for hooking. The penalty came after Nikolaj Ehlers gave the puck away, which led to a rush opportunity for the Kings and the subsequent infraction. The Jets successfully killed off the penalty, thanks in part to a huge shot block by Dylan Samberg—his first block in 21 games.

The lack of action in the opening frame wrapped up with a modest number of shots from both teams. The Kings led 6-4 in shots.

The Kings opened the scoring at 15:21 when Alex Turcotte tipped in a shot from Adrian Kempe at the point, fooling Eric Comrie. Turcotte registered his fifth goal of the season, with Kempe and Jacob Moverare earning the assists.

There was a questionable penalty called against Mark Scheifele for supposedly tripping Quinton Byfield. To me, it didn’t look even close to a trip—Scheifele barely touched Byfield’s skate. Given that Byfield is 220 pounds, it’s hard to believe he would go down that easily.

LA remained with a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes as the Jets killed off three penalties and were outshot 15-9. The Jets not really being a threat in this game yet.

Mikey Anderson took Gabriel Vilardi down, drawing an interference penalty as Vilardi tried to get by him. The Jets were awarded their first power play opportunity of the game, but unfortunately, they couldn’t convert on it. The Kings would take another penalty shortly after, this time with Alex Laferriere called for hooking Nikolaj Ehlers.

On the ensuing power play, the Jets tied things up at 1-1 with a beautiful passing play from Kyle Connor to Vilardi, then to Scheifele. Connor worked the puck along the boards before feeding it to Vilardi, who made a perfect backdoor pass to Scheifele, who made no mistake putting it into the empty net.

The game opened up a bit for both teams, with plenty of good chances at both ends. However, 60 minutes of hockey solved nothing, so it was off to overtime.

Shots were tied at 22-17 in favour of the Kings heading into overtime.

The Los Angeles Kings wasted no time. At 3:46, Adrian Kempe picked the top right corner on Comrie, then skated to the glass to silence the Winnipeg crowd after their most recent “Go Jets Go” chant. Kempe reached the 20-goal mark for the fourth time in his career, with Brandt Clarke and Anze Kopitar collecting the assists.

The Jets now have dropped to a 1-2-2 record in their past five games. They are now 1-1-2 so far on this eight-game homestand.

This game reminded me of the last time these two teams met—there was simply no room to make plays. The Kings are so solid defensively and structurally sound in their defensive core. In the last matchup against the Kings, the Jets only registered 14 shots on goal. Tonight, they only managed a five-shot improvement, finishing with 19. Ultimately, they lost again, dropping both meetings with the Kings so far this season.

The game was very slow, as I mentioned earlier—there wasn’t much space to make plays. It almost felt like a playoff game in January. Even though the Jets broke through late, it wasn’t enough, as LA generated more chances and capitalized on them.

Overall, it was a tight game, and regardless of the outcome, it was always going to be close. Fortunately, the Jets earned themselves a point. They will need to have their skating legs tomorrow against the Colorado Avalanche.

The Jets will complete this set of back-back games tomorrow night at Canada Life Centre against the Colorado Avalanche. Puck drop is at 6:00 p.m. CT and the game is available to watch on SN1.

Make sure to check back here for the pre-game article and the post-game article.