The Jets three game road trip remained without a win after a 5-4 shootout loss to the Penguins yesterday afternoon. This morning, the Jets hit the road again to conclude their three game road trip at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. The Jets entered the morning five points out of a wildcard spot, with now every game crucial to pick up two points. The 28-29-12 Jets took on the 28-33-8 Rangers, a team that entered tonight on a 5-4-1 stretch in their last 10 games as they’ve had some recent success in what’s been a disappointing season in The Big Apple.

The Jets line combinations had some small tweaks for the second half of a back to back. The top 6 forwards remained the same, while Cole Koepke moved up to the 3rd line with Jonathan Toews and Gustav Nyquist. The 4th line was Brad Lambert, Morgan Barron and Isak Rosen. Neal Pionk returned to the Jets blue line yesterday, and he’s on the top pairing with Josh Morrissey. Dylan DeMelo moved down to the 3rd pairing with Haydn Fleury.

Eric Comrie got the start in goal as he got the nod in this second half of a back to back where Hellebuyck started last afternoon. The Jets lineup now has just three players out due to injuries: Colin Miller, Nino Niederreiter and Vladislav Namestnikov. Comrie entered tonight’s game with a 11-9-1 record, a 2.95 GAA and a .895 SV%. Tonight’s game was a pretty even battle throughout, with the Jets finding a way to win in a shootout after two recent shootout losses in their last three games prior to today.

The Jets and Rangers battled throughout the first period, and from early on you could tell that this would be another close game. Tye Kartye took the first penalty of the game 6 minutes in, but the Jets couldn’t open the scoring with this early man advantage.

Five minutes after the powerplay ended, Adam Lowry scored his 5th goal of the season, his first goal in around two months. Lowry carried the puck up the ice before giving it off to Cole Perfetti, and a nice passing play ended with Lowry opening the scoring for this Sunday morning game.

Shots on goal after the first were 11-4 for the Jets in an overall strong 1st period. Both teams were using their back up goalies, but they both looked sharp in this opening 20 minutes.

The 2nd period started with a Rangers goal just 41 seconds after puck drop. After the Jets failed to clear the puck, J.T Miller found Tye Kartye in front and he snapped the puck past Comrie to tie this game at one goal a piece.

Around five minutes later the Jets got their 2nd powerplay of the game. This time the Jets were successful on the 5 on 4, after another nice passing play was finished off by Gabriel Vilardi. Josh Morrissey and Kyle Connor were set up in their usual powerplay spots, and Vilardi was in front to snap the puck into the net for his 27th goal of the season.

After the Jets took the lead, the Rangers got a pair of powerplay opportunities almost back to back. Eric Comrie was sharp throughout this five minute stretch, but in the middle of the second powerplay the Rangers tied this game at two. J.T Miller and Adam Fox set up Mika Zibanejad for a slap shot from the face off dot for his 30th goal of the season.

The 2nd period was overall the most even period of the game, with the Rangers outshooting the Jets 16-14. After 40 minutes played it was all even at two, and with the Jets recent stretch of not winning OT and shootout games, Jets fans were hoping they could find a way to get a road win in regulation.

The 3rd period saw the Jets regain some momentum after losing their one goal lead. Shots on goal in the final frame with 10 minutes remaining were 7-3 for the Jets, who looked like the better team down the final stretch.

Dylan Garand, the 23-year old netminder from Victoria, BC, was making his NHL debut for the Rangers, and he definitely was doing his part to keep the Rangers in this game in the 3rd period. The Jets got their 3rd powerplay of the game with seven minutes to go, but Garand and the Rangers penalty killers kept this a tie game entering the final few minutes of the game.

The 3rd period ended up being scoreless, and this game was still tied at two. Teams traded chances in the last three minutes of the game, but for the third time in the last four games, the Jets were headed to overtime. Final shots on goal were 36-25 for the Jets, who were now looking to pick up this important extra point in the 3 on 3 overtime.

For the 2nd straight overtime, the Jets ended up shorthanded. Mark Scheifele was trying to get around Vladislav Gavrikov with the Jets controlling the puck in the Rangers zone, but Scheifele got just a piece of Gavrikov and Scheifele was called for interference. The Rangers 4 on 3 powerplay looked pretty good, but Comrie made a few solid saves to keep this game going.

The Rangers took a penalty with not much time left, and the Jets had a delayed 5 on 4 until the next whistle, which wasn’t until 11 seconds left. The Jets only had 11 seconds to try to win this game on the powerplay before a shootout, but they weren’t able to, and the Jets were off to a shootout for the third time in their last four games, with the previous two times resulting in losses. Shots on goal in overtime were 4-1 for the Rangers.

The 1st round of the shootout saw Vincent Trocheck get stopped by Comrie, followed by Kyle Connor scoring five hole after picking up speed after beginning his attempt with a slow approach. J.T Miller went second for the Rangers and went backhand but was stopped by Comrie. Vilardi had a chance to win it for the Jets in the second round and he did just that with a nice shot on the forehand to win it for the Jets. Gabriel Vilardi was this afternoon’s 1st star of the game with 1 goal, 1 assist and the shootout game winner.

After this final game of the road trip, the Jets will travel home to Winnipeg for a pair of week day games at Canada Life Centre. Their regular season schedule continues on Tuesday in Winnipeg with a game against the Golden Knights. Puck drop for this game will be just after 7:00 pm CDT. Stay tuned here at Jets Nation for all of the latest Jets news (including any playoff push updates), plus previews and recaps on each Jets game this season.

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