The Winnipeg Jets are struggling.
After following up a poor road swing with a disappointing homestand, the Jets began a five-game trip with a 4-3 loss to the Capitals in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night.
The Jets fell behind by two goals in the opening period, battled back to tie the game, only for the Capitals to score the next two goals as the Jets suffered a third straight loss.
Gabriel Vilardi scored twice in the defeat, while Mark Scheifele notched their only other marker. Kyle Connor registered three assists.
“There was a lot of good things that happened out there,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “We’re in a funk right now. We got to find ways. We’re doing a lot of good things. Our mistakes, if they happen, they’re going in our net. But we battled right to the end.”
The Jets have just three wins in their last 10 games and are having trouble finding secondary scoring from outside their top line.
“We need other people to step up,” Arniel said. “It’s not about being pretty now. It’s about – I don’t care how it goes in, off your head, off your leg, however it might be, rebounds whatever, deflections. We got to find a way.”
The Jets bottom three forward lines haven’t scored a single goal during their three-game losing skid.
With Neal Pionk out of the lineup with a lower-body injury, Elias Salomonsson made his NHL debut after being called up from the Manitoba Moose and he got the traditional solo lap in the pre-game warm-ups.
“That was actually the first thing I thought of – don’t fall,” said Salomonsson. “But, yeah, it was amazing. Of course, a lot of emotions. You just do that once, so yeah it was a lot of fun.”
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But Salomonsson was a minus-2 in 16 minutes of ice time in his first NHL game, and the Caps fourth goal came on a breakaway after the puck got away from him.
“It was unfortunate,” he said. “I think the puck bounced a little bit or something. But yeah, take that. It is what it is.
“The guys came and said don’t worry and stuff like that, so that felt good, and continue the game the right way.”
The home team got on the board first thanks to their red-hot blue line. After a misplayed pass by the Jets in the Washington zone, Tom Wilson broke up the ice with the puck. He skated into the Winnipeg end before dropping the puck to a trailing John Carlson, who blasted a shot past Eric Comrie to open the scoring at the 6:38 mark.
Later in the first, another Washington blueliner got on the scoreboard. Sonny Milano beat Gustav Nyquist to a loose puck and sent it back to the point where Jakob Chychrun whipped a perfect shot off the crossbar and in, making it the fourth straight game in which he scored a goal.
It looked like Washington would take the two-goal lead into the intermission, but Winnipeg struck in the final seconds. After the Capitals won a faceoff in their own end, Carlson made a terrible play, passing the puck to Connor before he sent a quick pass in front that Vilardi steered into the goal at the 19:38 mark.
Winnipeg began the second period on the power play and took full advantage when Vilardi deftly redirected a shot that Josh Morrissey had intentionally sent wide of the goal. Officials briefly reviewed the goal to confirm that Vilardi’s stick was below the crossbar when it made contact with the puck, which it was, giving Vilardi his 100th career NHL goal.
But just a few minutes later, the legendary Alex Ovechkin added another goal to his incredible career total, though this one would not be described as a beauty. After the Jets couldn’t quite clear the puck, it wound up along the boards where Ovechkin turned and fired a blind shot from distance that somehow knuckled its way through some traffic and past Comrie for his 908th NHL goal.
It stayed 3-2 heading to the third period as Washington outshot Winnipeg 15-7 in the middle frame. The two-period total in shots was 26-13 in the Capitals favour.
The Jets killed off a penalty to start the third but Connor McMichael made Winnipeg pay for a mistake at even strength at the 5:15 mark of the period.
The Jets transitioned up the ice and into the Capitals end before Cole Perfetti tried to drop a pass back to the point for Salomonsson. But the pass went into the rookie’s skates, he fell down, and McMichael was off to the races, skating in alone and putting a nice deke on Comrie before scoring to make it 4-2.
Winnipeg cut the lead back to one with just under five minutes to go in regulation. Scheifele took a high stick to the face off a draw in the offensive end, dropping to the ice as no call was made. Scheifele eventually gathered himself as play continued, with Dylan DeMelo sending a shot on goal that hit a body and went right to Scheifele in front of the net. The Capitals seemed to have forgotten about him as he deposited the puck into the net for his 12th goal of the season.
Winnipeg pulled Comrie for an extra attacker with just under two minutes left but couldn’t find the equalizer as the final horn sounded on a third straight defeat.
Comrie turned aside 30 shots as the Jets have lost all three games now since the news came out that Connor Hellebuyck would be missing time for knee surgery. Charlie Lindgren only had to make 18 saves in the win as the Capitals outshot Winnipeg 34-21.
The Jets will look to snap out of their losing ways Friday in Carolina in a Black Friday matinee affair against the Hurricanes. The puck drops just after 4 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning at 2 p.m. on 680 CJOB.
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