WINNIPEG – It’s beginning to sound like a broken record for the Winnipeg Jets as they played well and ran into another hot goalie and suffered yet another loss, going down 4-2 Tuesday night to Central Division rivals, the Nashville Predators. The Jets ended their five-game homestand with a 1-3-1 record and will head to Detroit for a visit to Joe Louis Arena and a match with the Red Wings.
Pekka Rinne saved 21 shots in win over Jets – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Special teams were again the story for the Jets as they went 0-for-4 on the power play including a five minute major where they couldn’t manage a shot on net.
“I liked that we got better as the game went on,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. “I like the things that we’re doing. I thought we played a good road game.”
Pekka Rinne stopped 21 Winnipeg shots and improves to 27-18-10 on the season.
Rinne made a couple big saves off Blake Wheeler and Mark Sheifele to preserve the win.
Ondrej Pavelec was in the net for the Jets and he made 27 saves and kept the Jets in this one with some solid saves as well but unfortunately he suffered the loss and see’s his record fall to 7-11-2Â on the season.
Nashville got a pair of goals off the stick of Craig Smith his 17th and 18th of the season.
“I think the past month-and-a-half, two months, everybody has settled into where they’re going to be, and that only creates chemistry,” said Smith, who has a five-game point streak (five goals, eight assists). “That only helps in games where you need goals, can rely on each other and be predictable.”
Colton Sissons, a recent AHL call up, scored his second of the year; Ryan Johansen got his 11th of the year.
“We were kind of on our heels a little bit and behind the eight-ball a little bit, especially in a tough building,” Sissons said. “It was huge to get those two goals.”
Winnipeg got goals from Drew Stafford his 17th and Jacob Trouba his sixth.
“We had our chances,” Stafford said. “If we can get one on [the five-minute power play], we can swing the momentum our way. If they kill it off like they did, it usually goes their way, and that’s a big turning point in the game.”
The Jets hung around and played well enough to win but just couldn’t find the back of the net on some great chances and also didn’t muster up much in the third. They were the more physical of the two teams.
The Jets called up forward Scott Kosmachuk from the Manitoba Moose, the 2012 third round pick was playing in his 1st NHL game and he played 9:25 on the third line and finished with no shots on goal and a couple of hits. He is the 6th player this season on the Jets to make his NHL debut.
The Jets will head out for a quick one game road trip and then return home for a Saturday night match up with their Central Division foes the Colorado Avalanche.
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