Tonight, the Jets began a mini 2 game road trip, starting in the capital of Canada: Ottawa. The Senators entered this game on a 4 game losing streak, falling out of a wild card spot in the Eastern conference. At the top of the NHL standings continues to be the Jets, who were looking to continue their franchise-best streak to 11 games. There wasn’t any major storylines between these two teams going into this one, it was simply a game where one team could extend a win streak, and the other could end their losing streak.

Compared to the game against the Sharks, this game had some more pace to it right from the puck drop. The physicality started 3 minutes into the game, when Logan Stanley took “two” roughing calls to Artem Zub’s one, giving the Senators an early powerplay. The Jets shut down the Sens 1st powerplay, as the middle of the league penalty kill continues to get closer to 80%. A few minutes later, Adam Lowry dropped the gloves with Tyler Kleven after a big hit was thrown on Mason Appleton. This response seemed to energize the players (and Jets fans attending in Ottawa), as the Jets opened the scoring shortly after.

Following a turnover in the Senators zone, Nikolaj Ehlers fired one on goal from nearly the point, and it was redirected by Cole Perfetti past Linus Ullmark for his 12th of the season. Less than 100 seconds later, Mason Appleton put the Jets ahead by 2. Appleton carried the puck into the zone, finding Nino Niederreiter on the rush for a great chance. Ullmark made the inital save, but the puck went loose in the crease and Appleton jumped into action to score his 8th of the season. This fairly eventful 1st period ended with a penalty from Nikolas Matinpalo with a minute left, giving the Jets a short powerplay to begin the 2nd. Ullmark and Hellebuyck were sharp in the 1st, and shots were tied at 12.

The Jets were unsuccessful on their 1st powerplay of the game, but started the 2nd period where they left off in terms of generating scoring chances. After a few solid chances, Kyle Connor scored his 31st of the season to give the Jets a 3-0 lead. Connor retrieved the puck along the boards before finding Gabriel Vilardi behind the net, who walked out in front before making a nice pass behind to Connor who snapped one past Ullmark.

Thomas Chabot got the Senators on the board 49 seconds later. Tim Stutzle made a nice zone entry, creating space, before dropping it back to Chabot who wristed the puck past Hellebuyck for his 5th of the season. The Jets got a chance to regain some momentum a few minutes later, when Matinpalo took a high sticking call against Nino Niederreiter. On the powerplay, Jake Sanderson took a hooking call against Gabriel Vilardi, giving the Jets a 5 on 3 chance. The powerplay wasn’t that bad again, and Ullmark kept the Senators in the game with some key saves during this stretch. Shots on goal in the 2nd ended 18-11 for the Jets, as the 3-1 lead couldn’t be extended.

The 3rd period was the least eventful period of this game in terms of scoring, penalties and shots on goal. Both teams were trying to battle it out in the 3rd, and this may have resulted in a less “exciting” final 20 minutes. The Senators best chance to get back in the game came with 6 minutes left, when Appleton tripped Thomas Chabot. Shots finished 9-2 for the Jets in the 3rd, so you could probably tell how the only powerplay of the period went. With just over 3 minutes to play, the Senators pulled their goalie. After a failed cycle attempt, Kyle Connor stole the puck and started a casual looking 2 on 1 with Mark Scheifele, who received the puck and wristed one from behind the faceoff dot into the empty net. Scheifele’s 33rd of the season (330th of his career) secured a 4-1 win for the Jets.

11 wins in a row for the Jets, who continue to amaze me more and more as the season goes on. Hellebuyck had yet another game with 2 or less goals allowed, and you just know when that happens you have a very good chance at seeing a Jets win. Final shots on goal were 39-25 for the Jets, so Ullmark did well in keeping the Sens in this game late into the 3rd period. Kyle Connor stood out for me this game, scoring the 3-0 goal and assisting on the 4-1 empty netter. After being left out of Team USA’s lineup for the championship game against Canada, Connor seems to be using the omission as motivation for his performance with the Jets post-tournament.

Up next, the Jets will travel to Nashville to play the Predators tomorrow night as part of this mini road trip back-to-back. Expect Eric Comrie to start in goal, and it’ll be worth watching if any other lineup changes are made in the bottom half of the lineup to give someone a break after tonight’s game. Puck drop is at 7 pm CT in Nashville, and make sure to check back here for pre game and post game articles.