The Jets have now dropped four straight games following a 3-0 loss to the Penguins in Pittsburgh tonight. Winnipeg has just three goals during the four-game slide which is their longest winless skid of the season. The Jets will head to Philadelphia and face the Flyers on Thursday before returning home for a rematch with the Penguins on Saturday.
THE PENALTY
With the Jets trailing 1-0 in the second, Brenden Dillon hit Noel Acciari in the neutral zone and was given a match penalty for an illegal check to the head. After killing off the first three minutes of the five-minute Penguins power play, the Jets gave up goals 1:30 apart to Jeff Carter and Bryan Rust to fall behind 3-0. Winnipeg had to play with five defencemen for the rest of the night and that obviously made it tough to work their way back into the game.
“The referees made the call and unfortunately it didn't go our way with that call,” said Rick Bowness.
“The second power-play goal is kind of a broken play but that's hockey. You fight through it.”
COULDN’T BUY A GOAL
Coming into tonight, Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry was 4-0 against the Jets in his career with a 1.22 goals against average and a .959 save percentage. The Jets had multiple good looks from the Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi line. In fact, Scheifele looked to have broken Jarry’s shutout in the third period, but the play was ruled offside. Winnipeg had 13 high danger scoring chances at five-on-five yet couldn’t get one past Jarry, who has six shutouts this season.
“We still had good looks, some good ozone time and really, you know, didn't give them a whole lot other than, obviously on the long power play. So, it's something to definitely be positive about,” said Scheifele who returned to the lineup after a six-game absence.
“We took the game to them when we were down and showed some resilience and got some chances and obviously had that one that got called back and could have changed the game.”
MONAHAN DEBUT
Newly acquired Sean Monahan made his Jets debut tonight playing between Nikolaj Ehlers and Cole Perfetti. Monahan played 15:26 with one shot, one hit and he won 60% of his face-offs.
“I liked his game. He uses his wingers well. He makes really smart plays with the puck,” said Bowness.
“He’s reliable. Again, for his first game and after a break, I’m very happy with his game.”
