GLENDALE, Ariz – The Winnipeg Jets were coming off a heartbreaking loss on Monday and were starting a very tough road trip Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes a team that has been struggling all season but looked very sharp as they handed the Jets a 4-1 loss at the Gila River Arena.
The Jets who always seem to have their fans make the Arizona trip with them had a home game type of feel as the Winnipeggers must have been screaming for joy to get out of the deep freeze back in Manitoba. They didn’t give much of an effort early on as they gave up two quick power play goals in the first five minutes of the game.
Ondrej Pavelec got the start for the Jets between the pipes and must have been wondering what happened to that tight defensive system they have been playing all year long as he saw a lot of odd man rushes and blown coverage. He made 26 saves off 30 shots. His record falls to 10-10-5.
Mike Smith was in the net for the Coyotes and was on his game as he made 34 saves off 35 shots. His struggles this season didn’t show as he held down the fort for his team when the Jets took over. His record improves to 7-16-2.
“I feel like I’ve taken a big step in the right direction and I have to continue to work on it,” said Smith, who allowed all the goals in a 6-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. “It was great to get up a couple of goals right off the bat, and that game (Thursday) seemed to have more flow to it. Our PK did a great job letting me see shots and not getting to too many rebounds.
“I feel like I have a little bit of swagger back in my game, and it’s nice to get rewarded tonight.”
Arizona got goals from Mikkel Boedker who sniped a pair his 10th, 11th of the season, Oliver Ekman -Larsson got his 11th, Captain Shane Doan scored his 9th.
Winnipeg got its only goal off the stick of Mathieu Perreault his 10th goal.
“In a 4-1 game you’d think our [goalie] wasn’t good, but [Pavelec] was really strong,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “He made some great saves. We just can’t be in the penalty box as much as we’ve been and not have a night like that.”
After a sloppy first period, the Jets settled down and were all over the Coyotes and if not for Smith things could have different. The Jets also went 0-7 on the power play and the Coyotes were 3-5 which was the difference. Discipline was once again the problem as the Jets took some bad penalties at the wrong times.
“The last time we played them (a 6-3 Winnipeg win Oct. 9) we were embarrassed, and we were embarrassed against St. Louis,” Arizona’s Shane Doan said. “It was big for us to get the lead, play with the lead, add to it and keep going.”
There was a bright spot as injured defenceman Zach Bogosian returned to the lineup after missing the last 14 games with a lower body injury, bad news was Grant Clitsome had back surgery and is probably done for the season.
“We lost the special-teams battles,” Perreault said. “They get three goals on the power play and they were just better than us.”
Things won’t get easier as the Jets will head to LA to face the Kings on Saturday night and the Ducks on Sunday night.
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