DALLAS – The Winnipeg Jets knew this was going to be a tough road trip and were hoping for at least a split but after Thursday’s loss to the Dallas Stars this trip will be a lot tougher to get to 500. The game was a bit better than their last but the Stars still exposed some cracks that have hindered the Jets as of late.
The Stars added two empty net goals to make the score worse than it actually was, 6-3.
Jamie Benn – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
The Jets took two wins in Dallas last year and this one looked promising as they jumped out to a 2-1 lead before the Stars stormed back; the Jets tied things up in the third only to let the Stars score late and take the win.
Ondrej Pavelec took the loss and falls to 4-6-1 on the season. He stopped 28 of 32 Dallas shots.
“When your power play’s on, there’s a certain quickness to it, the way pucks get to the net, the traffic that you get in front of the net,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of that going on.”
Dallas got goals from John Klingberg his third of the season on the power play , Colton Sceviour notched his first of the year , Ales Hemsky his third , Jamie Benn his 11th on the power play , Antoine Roussel his third an empty netter , Vern Fiddler his third also an empty netter rounded out the scoring.
“Just a lot of good work by the other four guys,” Benn said. “I pretty much stand in front and tap them in.”
The Jets played well for parts of a wide open first period that saw numerous breakdowns by both teams as there were three goals scored before the five minute mark. The Jets got back to their game in the second as they dominated the period minus a defensive lapse where Hemsky got behind the D and scored on a breakaway. This was the fourth breakaway in two games on Ondrej Pavelec. The jets had numerous great chances but couldn’t find the back of the net.
Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen stopped 35 shots to improve to 7-1 on the year. He made a couple of great saves off Mark Scheifele and Nik Ehlers in the second period.
“I loved the battle in his game,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said of Lehtonen. “That’s the one thing he’s getting better at. He’s got some battle. He could have come unglued too, but he didn’t. He stood tall for us.”
Special teams continued to plague the Jets as they couldn’t cash in on four power play chances including a double minor in the third to Tyler Seguin for high sticking. The Stars scored 2 power play goals and that was the difference.
Winnipeg goal scorers were Blake Wheeler who got his eighth, Jacob Trouba who got his 1st and Tyler Myers who also got his 1st of the season.
Things will not get easier for the Jets as they head to Nashville on Saturday night to take on the Predators.
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