Jets in no mood after heartbreaking loss to Blackhawks
In a season that’s had its fair share of highs and lows, the Winnipeg Jets were dealt a healthy dose of both in a 4-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks Sunday night at MTS Centre.
The highs included the return of Mathieu Perreault, who cracked the lineup after a 16-game absence with a lower-body injury. Then there was the dominance of Dustin Byfuglien and his two-goal performance, both of which came on the power play. He now has three goals in two games since returning from an upper body injury that sidelined him for nine games.
But it will be the lows that have the lasting effect following a game where the Jets went toe-to-toe with one of the league’s best teams but fell short thanks to a third period of unfortunate bounces.
With a 3-2 lead heading in to the third period, the Jets looked poised to continue their push to the postseason, on the verge of picking up a valuable two points against a Hawks team just four points separated in the standings.
Instead, the Jets find themselves searching for answers after Winnipeg native and Blackhawks’ captain, Jonathan Toews, scored with just 30.8 seconds to go in the third period to ice the game for the visitors.
“It’s tough to take a whole lot (from that game),” said a visibly disappointed Blake Wheeler, who provided one of the highs by scoring a short-handed goal in the second period that gave the Jets a 2-1 lead.
“I thought we had the better of the play and it’s just one of those things. We just got to deal with it.”
What was tougher to swallow was how the Blackhawks tied the game.
In what should have been a routine play on the boards for Jets defenceman Toby Enstrom instead turned in to a collision with the ref, with Enstrom’s stick going one way and the puck another.
In a last ditch effort, Enstrom tried to swat the puck with his hand but it found the stick of Blackhawks’ forward Patrick Sharp who walked in all alone to tie the game at 3-3.
“We’re battling for our playoff lives and something like that happens,” said Jets’ captain Andrew Ladd, who finished with two assists to reach a new career-high in points with 61.
“It’s obviously tough to give up that tying goal on that play but at the same time it’s still a 3-3 hockey game late in the third period and we’ve got to find a way to take that thing at least to overtime.”
Maurice displeased
Jets coach Paul Maurice also expressed frustration on the play.
“I don’t know what to tell you, you saw what happened,” he said. “I’m sure they’re going to feel that the linesman feels worse than anyone in the building but I would highly doubt that.”
With just six games left in the season, the Jets cling to the final playoff wild card spot in the Western conference with a record of 39-25-12. On their heels are the Los Angeles Kings, who are just two points shy of the Jets at 88 points but still have one game in hand.
It’s the kind of scenario that has the team on edge, and given the stakes are as high as they are with that first ever playoff berth now hanging in the wind, it’s understandable that some of that frustration spill over.
And some did, as Wheeler took exception to the question of whether or not he felt his team was unlucky.
“What do you think?” he said. “It looked like it. It felt like it. We worked our tails off again tonight. That’s what we do every night.
“It’s definitely not easy to bounce back from those type of situations but we’re going to have to find a way.”
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