Winnipeg Jets suffer first regulation loss of season, falling 5-1 to Anaheim

Coming off a last-minute win over the Avalanche, the Winnipeg Jets were hoping to keep proving doubters wrong against Anaheim Friday night.

Instead, they looked slow. Their power play lacked danger without the injured Josh Morrissey. It all resulted in a 5-1 loss to the Ducks at Canada Life Centre that dropped Winnipeg’s record to 3-1-1 on the season.

The game began with a great flow of play with just one whistle over the first ten minutes, though neither team generated much of an attack during that time.

Shots on goal were 7-1 in favour of the Jets with just over five minutes to go in the first when Anaheim scored on a counter-attack.

The play began in the Ducks’ end when Brad Lambert was erased along the boards and had the puck taken away by Tim Washe, kickstarting a 3-on-2 up the ice.

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Washe dished it to Judd Caulfield in the neutral zone, who then slid the puck to Jeff Malott as he burned past Neal Pionk to go in alone on Clay Stevenson. Stevenson stopped Malott’s deke but the rebound came to an unmarked Caulfield in front, who rammed it home before sliding into the net himself.

It was the first NHL goal for Caulfield in his fourth career game, coming at the 14:41 mark of the first.

Winnipeg did not generate another shot on goal in the period but in the final seconds, Adam Lowry laid out A.J. Greer with a big hit along the boards. Travis Mitchell didn’t like that, so he and Lowry dropped the gloves with the Jets’ captain earning a decisive win.

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Mitchell was also given an extra two minutes for instigating, giving the Jets 1:46 of power play time to start the second period but they were unable to cash in.

The Jets wound up outshooting the Ducks 7-4 in the first and shots were hard to come by in the second as well, but once again Anaheim’s fourth line found the back of the net on a counter-attack.

After a turnover in the Ducks end, they once again broke up the ice on a 3-on-2. Malott carried the puck across the blue line with Tyrel Bauer slightly out of position, then dished it over to Washe.

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Washe had blown past several Jets, including a backchecking Lambert, to get free in front to finish off the Malott pass, making it 2-0 at the 5:20 mark of the period.

Anaheim had a golden chance to make it 3-0 just past the halfway point. After a turnover and a bad line change, Ryan Poehling got a long breakaway on Stevenson and had Greer behind him if he wanted to pass. Instead, he nearly fumbled the puck as he got in close on goal before missing the net entirely with his shot.

Winnipeg earned their third power play look of the game with just under seven minutes left in the second and failed to convert, then got another look with just under three minutes to go but didn’t get a shot on goal.

In total, the Jets got three shots on goal in 7:46 of power play time in the second, and overall, the shots were 6-5 Winnipeg in the period.

The Ducks appeared to put the nail in the coffin early in the third, once again leaving the Jets in the dust in transition, though this time it was their top line doing the damage against Winnipeg’s top line.

The play began with a bad pass from Mark Scheifele in the Anaheim end, leading to a 3-on-2. Sam Colangelo passed it to his left to Beckett Sennecke as they crossed into the Winnipeg zone, then Sennecke drove it down low before sliding a pass back to Colangelo in front of the net. The Jets defenders did a poor job covering Colangelo, allowing him a tap-in to make it 3-0 with 15:35 remaining.

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It took Winnipeg 10:36 to get a shot on goal in the third, but it found the back of the net to cut into Anaheim’s lead.

Dylan DeMelo disrupted an Anaheim pass at the Winnipeg blue line, sending the puck skittering into the neutral zone where Scheifele got to it and sent a cross-ice pass to Kyle Connor, springing the sniper on a partial breakaway. He made no mistake as he buried it high past Lukas Dostal for his sixth of the season.

The goal moved Connor, who was playing in his 700th NHL game, into third place on the franchise goal scoring list with his 329th goal, breaking a tie with Ilya Kovalchuk.

But any hopes of a late rally were extinguished with 5:54 to go when Anaheim captain Mikael Granlund beat Stevenson with a long wrist shot.

Winnipeg pulled the goalie out of desperation with over four minutes remaining but very little happened before Nikita Nesterenko put the puck into the empty net with 40 seconds to go.

Anaheim wound up outshooting the Jets 17-16 in the game, including 8-3 in the third.

The Jets don’t play again until Tuesday night when they host the Wild at 7:15 p.m.