Jets win streak snapped at four with loss to Capitals

WINNIPEG - Both the Winnipeg Jets and the Washington Capitals brought win streaks into Canada Life Centre on Sunday night, but unfortunately for the fans in downtown Winnipeg, it wasn't the home team.
A four-goal second period turned a scoreless hockey game into a 4-0 Washington lead, one that the Jets carved into early in the third, but ultimately couldn't crawl back from, as the Capitals picked up a 5-2 victory.
The loss snapped Winnipeg's season long four-game win streak, while the Capitals extended their run of victories to four.
"One thing led to another in the second period, so when we spot a team four goals it'll be tough to come back from," said defenceman Neal Pionk. "They caused us to make a few turnovers. But they play with pace and capitalized on our mistakes."
Adam Lowry and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored for the Jets, who are now 18-8-1 on the season.

"They're a good team. They play fast. Their breakouts, they stretch out so our D can't really gap up," said Dubois. "Some nights it's not your best game, and tonight was one of those nights."
Head coach Rick Bowness felt his group, who just came off a back-to-back on the road, didn't have their legs early in the first period. Washington outshot the Jets 8-1 early in the first before the Jets closed the gap and eventually turned it in to a 10-9 advantage after 20 minutes.

Trevor van Riemsdyk put the Capitals on the board 3:25 into the second period. The Jets weren't able to break out cleanly, and the defenceman took a pass from Nic Dowd, and sent a wrist shot from just inside the top of the left circle past a screened Connor Hellebuyck. It was van Riemsdyk's second of the season, and marked the first time in four games the Jets didn't open the scoring.
"The coverage on their first goal was a complete breakdown for us," said Bowness.
The Jets nearly killed off a 5-on-3 Capitals power play later in the second, but with 21 seconds remaining in a David Gustafsson's tripping minor, Evgeny Kuznetsov found some space in front of Hellebuyck and lifted a backhand into the top corner. It was the sixth consecutive game that the Capitals power play had found the back of the net.

A four-minute high sticking call on Lars Eller 56 seconds after the Kuznetsov goal gave the Jets a chance to cut into that lead, but a bobbled puck at the offensive blue line resulted in a Marcus Johansson partial break. Josh Morrissey broke the play up with what the officials deemed was a slash, and Johansson made no mistake on the penalty shot to make it 3-0.
"You get a four-minute and give up the breakaway and the penalty shot, it kind of sets you on your heels a little bit against a veteran hockey club," said Bowness.
Pionk had 2:41 of his 22:40 of ice time on the Jets power play, which went 0-for-3 on the night. That snapped another streak the Jets had running, which was seven straight games with a power play goal.

It's not going to score every night, but Pionk still felt that was a big opportunity in the game.
"Our power play, myself included, has to be better," Pionk said. "We've got to create momentum for the team regardless whether we score or not."
Just 2:17 after his double-minor ended, Eller - who was playing in his 900th NHL game - made good for his penalty. He buried a rebound with 4:36 remaining in a difficult middle frame for the Jets, that saw them outshot 16-9.
Still, Bowness liked the finish his team had to the period. Kyle Connor hitting the post off a face-off win was just one of the scoring chances the Jets generated in those final few minutes. Bowness even pulled Hellebuyck for the final 10 seconds of the period to try and generate a late period goal.
The message after 40 minutes was that there have been numerous comebacks in the NHL, why couldn't the Jets add their name to the list?
"We can score," said Bowness. "We didn't go into that third period on our heels thinking 'this game is over.' We thought we still had a chance."
Lowry got the Jets on the board with his second goal in as many games. This one came 35 seconds into the third, as he pounced on a rebound from a Josh Morrissey shot and ripped it past Charlie Lindgren for his seventh of the season. Morrissey's assist was his 26th of the season, which tied a career-high for him.

Pierre-Luc Dubois then made it 4-2 just 3:29 into the third, choking up on his stick to convert a cross-ice Kyle Connor pass on a two-on-one for his 14th goal of the season.
"I think that was mini sticks. When I used to get a mini stick, I'd put it on the stove and put a little curve on it and then go play in the basement," said Dubois. "It was a nice pass by KC, but it was a little in front. It was either a torn groin or I made the stick a bit shorter, so I went with the second option."
That's as close as the Jets would get, though. Alex Ovechkin added an empty netter with 2:12 left on the clock for his 17th of the campaign - and 797th of his career.
Now the Jets prepare to take on the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, a team they've lost twice to this season - but also feel they haven't shown their best selves against, just yet.
"We're in first place for a reason. We're a good team," said Bowness. "We got a really good team coming in again and we know we're a lot better than tonight, a lot better than what we showed in Vegas. Now, we've got to bounce back."