WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Jets were returning after the mandatory five days off and were looking to go on a serious run as their playoff hopes were hanging by a thread .
The Minnesota Wild, the Western Conferences top team, were in town for a huge Central Division battle. The Wild were coming off a big overtime win over LA the night before despite missing top players Zach Parise and Jason Pominville both have the mumps and are out for at least a week.
The Jets jumped out early as rookie sensation Patrik Laine converted a Mark Sheifele pass to deposit his 31st of the year just over a minute into the game.
Things were off to a rocky start for Jets starter Connor Hellebuyck as he allowed three goals on the first 12 shots he faced as Mikael Granlund , Tyler Graovac , Eric Haula gave the Wild a 3-1 lead after twenty.
“It’s fun. Every single game you’re playing with good players and you’re going to work hard, and we work hard. We’ve been getting results and that’s fun, but there’s still lots of season left and let’s keep going,” Granlund said.
Things got worse for the home squad as Marco Scandella beat Hellebuyck to make it 4-1 .
Adam Lowry gave the Jets some life as he beat Darcy Kuemper for his 11th , but just four minutes later newly acquired Ryan White scored his ninth of the year to give the Wild a 5-2 lead and that was it for Hellebuyck.
The Jets needed some sort of spark as time was running out on there chances and Mathieu Perreault ripped home his seventh to make it 5-3 just before the second period ended.
Midway through the third with the Wild on the power play Joel Armia dumped a puck high over the net but got a great bounce back off the behind of Kuemper and into the net for a shorthanded goal his seventh of the season .
The Jets kept coming and Scheifele scored a beauty from the slot for his 26th to tie things at 5-5 .
“Every game matters so much now,” Scheifele said. “To lose it in the last two minutes is tough.”
But the storybook ending was not to be as with under three minutes left just as a penalty expired Jason Zucker scored his 20th past Michael Hutchinson who allowed one goal on seven shots.
“Backhand, no-look through two guys, it was an unbelievable pass,” Zucker said. “That was pretty impressive.”
The same old story on this night for the Jets as some soft goals cost them the game and more importantly at least a point .
WATCH: All Jets vs. Wild highlights
With deadline day looming we will see what the future holds for these Jets as they sit five points back of the final playoff spot.
“It’s not always fair in this league, I guess,” Jets forward Blake Wheeler said. “I wouldn’t say that we grossly outplayed them and deserved a better fate. You got to take some positives out of the fact that we battled back from a couple of deficits. We would have liked to at least get that to overtime.”
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