Jets fall just short against defending champs

WINNIPEG – Nikolaj Ehlers picked a heck of a time to score his first goal of the season, the former Jet notched the game winning goal in the third period to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Saturday afternoon.

Ehlers had been scoreless in the first eight games of the season but his power play goal at 6:43 of the third gave Carolina the lead for the first time and they held on for the one goal victory.

Mark Scheifele and Alex Iafallo scored for the Jets who are now 4-2-2, Clay Stevenson made 33 saves.

“There was lots of that game, certainly the first was good," said Scott Arniel.

"There were other things in the second and third, but at the end of the day, they’re the Stanley Cup champ and you can see why. It’s 60 minutes of the exact same thing." 

After two slow starts against the Wild and Blackhawks, the Jets were ready from puck drop and had the two best scoring chances in the opening frame. A two-on-one opportunity midway through the period saw Connor hit Scheifele with a perfect pass and the Jets centre was denied by Pyotr Kochetkov. The Canes goaltender had to come up big again when Isak Rosén showed off his speed down the right side before ripping a shot that was shut down by Kochetkov’s blocker.

The Jets had to weather a Hurricane’s press off the start of the second before Winnipeg opened the scoring at 4:23. Carolina turned the puck over in their own zone and Scheifele skated in and beat Kochetkov on his backhand for his second of the season and sits six back of Dale Hawerchuk all-time.

The Jets had gone all season without giving up a power-play goal in back-to-back games, but that streak came to an end when Viggo Björck was called for cross-checking. Logan Stankoven found Mark Jankowski in the slot, and Jankowski beat Clay Stevenson to tie the game at one with only 14 seconds left in Björck’s minor.

A scary incident for Mario Ferraro when a shot hit the Jets defenceman in the face, he had to be helped off the ice with 9:11 left in the second. The 28-year-old didn't miss much time and ended playing just over 18 minutes this afternoon.

Winnipeg capitalized on another Hurricane error, Kochetkov struggled playing the puck off the boards, which allowed Adam Lowry to get to puck to Iafallo and the easy tap-in for a 2-1 Jets lead at 10:59.

"There’s a scouting report on how the goalie plays the puck. We attack it, generally, fairly similar. You go to the forehand, force them to put it on the walls, and sometimes the riverboat gambler goes all-in and he misses," said Lowry.

"I'm just going there trying to force a play, and, fortunately, he mishandles the puck and comes right back to me, and I'm able to get it out front to Al."

Carolina would tie it again at 16:50, Jesperi Kotkaniemi redirected Shayne Gostisbehere’s point shot for his first of the season and it was 2-2 after 40 minutes.

The Hurricanes took the lead for the first time on another power play, after the Jets missed on two chances to clear the puck, Ehlers walked in and blasted a slap shot past Stevenson’s glove for the 3-2 lead. Winnipeg had allowed just two goals while on the PK in their first seven contests before allowing two this afternoon.

“Yeah, we got hemmed in there on the PK. We got to do a better job of clearing, almost kind of protecting the guts once they had us running around for a minute," said Kyle Connor.

"We just extended a little bit too much and we were just off our reads. Obviously, a great player like Nik in the slot there, it’s just too much time.”

The Jets will head out on the road Monday for a two-game road trip that starts Tuesday in St. Louis against the Blues.