Jets fall in a shootout to wrap up home stand

WINNIPEG -For the first time this season, the Winnipeg Jets found themselves in a shootout on Friday night in the finale of a four-game home stand.
Unfortunately for the fans inside Bell MTS Place, it was the visiting Buffalo Sabres who left the building with the win, when Connor Sheary's snap shot went bar down on Jets goaltender Laurent Brossoit in the seventh round.
Kyle Connor scored in regulation for the Jets, then added another in the shootout. Line mate Patrik Laine had the other Jets goal in the skills competition, but in the end, the Jets ended the four game stretch at home with seven of a possible eight points.
"It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn close," said Blake Wheeler, who had his 11-game point streak snapped. "There are some things we can definitely build upon."

After a scoreless first period that saw the Jets control most of the play, holding a 10-1 shots on goal advantage at one point, and finishing with six scoring chances to Buffalo's two.
The Jets would keep the pressure up in the second. They hit a couple posts, but would finally break through 7:10 into the middle frame.
Patrik Laine and Connor came up the ice on a 2-on-1 that began high in the Jets zone. Laine slid a pass to Connor on the left wing, and his shot went off Carter Hutton's stick and just under the bar.
Connor's ninth of the season was Winnipeg's 16th shot.
"He's got a great shot, but he's done that in practice so many times too," Connor said of Laine. "He comes down and the goalie thinks he's going to shoot, and then he slides it right under (the defenceman's) stick like he did. It was a pretty open net, so he did all the work there."
It was at that point where Maurice felt his team changed their offensive game. He believed his players changed from a shooter's mentality to more of a pass first mindset.
"We lessened our opportunity to get that second goal by slowing our offensive game down quite a bit," said Maurice.
"Long before the decision to pass the puck was made, we played like a passer… When we're at our best we skate like shooters and then make the pass if it's there. I thought we flipped that in the second half of the game."

That lead would last until early in the third, when the Sabres - on their third power play of the game - would find the equalizer. Jeff Skinner corralled a loose puck in front of Brossoit and lifted a backhand into the top right corner for his 14th of the campaign. It was also the first power play goal the Jets have allowed on the home stand.
The game was Brossoit's first start in 21 days, but he said he felt comfortable in the net, thanks to the work he put in during that stretch.
"To be honest I wasn't too worried about it. I've been feeling good every day. There was no doubt in my mind I'd be able to come in and replicate how I've been feeling as of late," said Brossoit, who made 31 saves in the game.
"I thought we carried the play the most of the game. Then they potted one and it gave them a bit of a surge, a bit of momentum."
Laine would come close to earning the Jets a win in regulation when he pounced on a turnover with a handful of seconds left. His shot from in tight seemed to beat Hutton on the short side, but hit the post and stayed under the Buffalo netminder, putting the game to overtime.
"There was a little bit of physicality, a directness, he cracked a post, those are good signs for him," Maurice said, adding he likes the look of Laine with Connor and Bryan Little.
"In the last two games, maybe Connor Hellebuyck last game, but Kyle Connor has been the best player on the ice for me. He's been fantastic. There is some chemistry on that line. I like it a lot."
In the shootout, the Jets had goals from Laine and Connor, but Sheary's snap shot in the seventh round that proved to be the difference.
The Jets (11-5-2) now head on the road for a four-game trek that begins on Monday in Vancouver against the Canucks.