Jets fire 40 shots on goal, but fall to Canucks

WINNIPEG - In an attempt to get back in the win column, the Winnipeg Jets fired 40 shots toward Thatcher Demko in the Vancouver Canucks net - but even hitting that mark for the second time this season wasn't enough, as the Jets fell 3-1 on Monday night.
We had, I don't know how many Grade-A chances," said Kyle Connor, who scored the lone goal for the Jets, his 23rd of the season. "It's just one of those nights.
"I think we're going to score more than one time playing that way and creating that many chances."

Connor's goal was one of his four shots on the night, which accounted for one-third of the shots his line with Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele accumulated.

Scheifele had a one-timer denied by a sprawling Demko.
Connor's attempt at a second goal of the game, a breakaway in the third period, was stopped not once - but twice - by the Vancouver netminder.
"Kyle had a really good game, lot of opportunities tonight for him," said Jets captain Blake Wheeler, who had his point streak snapped at six games. "He was kind of the victim of some of the bad puck luck. There was two or three I can remember in the third period right around the crease with an empty net came right to him and they just kind of bounce over his stick or that kind of stuff."
It's a frustrating time for the Jets, who have lost nine of 10 games and have scored 17 goals during that stretch - with four of them coming in the playoff spot clinching win against the Calgary Flames five days ago.
"Nothing is coming easy for us," said Wheeler. "Unfortunately we've gotten fairly used to is recently. It's kind of how it's going for us. Don't really have the magic formula for it right now. Certainly a ton of frustration."
It wasn't an ideal start for the Jets, as Ville Heinola's attempted drop pass at the offensive zone blue line was picked off by Nils Hoglander. The Canucks forward was stopped on the partial breakaway by Laurent Brossoit, but Hoglander knocked home the rebound to open the scoring 3:04 into the first.

Maurice felt Heinola, who played a season-high 17:47 in his third straight outing, rebounded nicely after the turnover.
"Playing his off-side is a challenge for any defenceman. He's done it before and it's not uncomfortable," said Maurice. "That goal, just a bad turn to that side is different than a turn to the other side. Ville's fine, he's a good young player that's going to keep getting better as he gets more experience and more time in the game."
Just 4:17 later, Bo Horvat swatted home his 17th of the season to make it 2-0. The goal was the result of a puck coming off the end boards and being sent out in front by Tanner Pearson.
Connor cut into that lead in half just past the midway mark of the opening period, notching his first goal since April 22. Connor posted up in front of Demko, and Mathieu Perreault made a spectacular move to shake the check of Jayce Hawryluk near the right corner, then get into open space to send the pass out front to Connor.
The rest of the night, the Jets seemed to control the majority of offensive zone time, something they've been focusing on getting more of the last couple weeks.

The challenge is sticking to that when it's the right thing to do, but the reward - for whatever reason - just isn't coming.
"The offensive part of our game at least looked right until the goalie stopped the puck," said Maurice. "We've played some games where I didn't think we generated nearly as much as I hoped to, but I thought tonight we seem to have gotten that part, with better traffic at the net. And we had some pretty good looks, he made three or four really good saves on something through the seam. So there's a starting point there."
It becomes even more difficult when a single bounce - like the one that occurred on Vancouver's third goal - ends up costing the team.
Hoglander's second goal of the game was the result of an attempted pass on a two-on-one. It deflected off Josh Morrissey's stick and past Brossoit to restore Vancouver's two-goal lead with 9:44 left in regulation.

The Jets are right back at it tomorrow night against these same Canucks, who were eliminated from postseason contention due to the Montreal Canadiens gaining a single point in an overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
One point separates the North Division's third place Jets from the fourth place Canadiens, as the two teams battle for position with the regular season winding down.
"We're all pros here," said Connor. "We've been doing back-to-backs, especially this year, it's such a condensed schedule. We're familiar with this. Get in the cold tub tonight, and roll out and do everything you need to do to prepare yourself for tomorrow."