Jets suffer first loss of season but line juggling nearly leads to comeback

WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Jets were bound to lose a game eventually, although that didn’t give them much solace after a dreadful first two periods proved too much to overcome in a 6-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.

The Jets didn’t show up through the first 40 minutes, which were mired by poor puck management, defensive play and a lack of urgency from the home team. At five-on-five, Toronto outshot the Jets 26-8 and produced vastly more high-danger shot attempts — 12 to 3 — in those two lopsided opening periods.

“They came in here and gave us a punch right in the nose,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said of the first two periods.

The Jets gave up five goals against — all at five-on-five — in a fashion that would make any coach squirm, given that they were a result of poor defensive coverage, missed assignments and defensive zone giveaways. In other words, self-inflicted wounds.

“We just didn’t have the jump we needed. I thought they were a lot quicker to pucks,” said Kyle Connor, who’s two power-play goals helped stop the bleeding, making it a 5-2 game entering the second intermission. “We just looked slow.”

So, Arniel brought out the ‘ol line blender.

“We had two scoring chances at five-on-five. That's what we ended up with. Two scoring chances,” Arniel said of the first two-thirds of the game. "I just wanted us to go out and have a third period where we go out and work. Where we go out and go after them. I changed the lines up because I had to try something.”

Here are the lines the Jets rolled out in the third period:

Nikolaj Ehlers — Mark Scheifele — Gabriel Vilardi
Kyle Connor — Adam Lowry — Cole Perfetti
Nino Niederreiter — Vladislav Namestnikov — Mason Appleton
Morgan Barron — Rasmus Kupari — Alex Iafallo

Josh Morrissey — Neal Pionk
Dylan Samberg — Colin Miller
Logan Stanley — Dylan DeMelo

To Arniel’s credit, the lineup reconfiguration jolted the Jets. Their two goals may have come during 6-on-5 play — Mark Scheifele scored on a delayed penalty, while Gabriel Vilardi capitalized when Connor Hellebuyck was pulled at the 3:47 mark — but the new lines helped tilt momentum in their favour during five-on-five play, with Winnipeg posting a 72 per cent Corsi-For percentage in the final period.

Sure, it’s just one game — or rather, one period — but one ought to wonder if Arniel considers keeping some of these lines when Winnipeg faces the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday. It’s not like Winnipeg’s five-on-five offence had been a strength for them throughout their eight-game winning streak. As of right now, Winnipeg ranks 22nd in five-on-five goals per 60 (2.24) and 23rd in five-on-five expected goals for per 60 (2.24), according to NaturalStatTrick.com. And the root of that stems from the struggles of the Jets’ top-six.

• Arniel defended his first line when asked post-game about what the Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi trio needs to do to not get scored on so frequently. They’ve been outscored 9-2 during five-on-five play.

"I'm not going to start explaining what line does what against the opposition because I can go back to the eight games before and I still think that there's been a lot of good hockey that was played by those three guys,” Arniel said. “There wasn't anybody that was good tonight for two periods. Toronto came out and took the game from us. They came in here and they played a lot harder and won a lot more battles than we did."

• Samberg and Pionk were on the ice for every single five-on-five goal against in the game. That pairing has been rock solid all year long and we shouldn’t worry too much about their struggles but we’d be remiss to not acknowledge how those two really seemed to struggle against a hard, fast forechecking team. Both players bobbled a lot of pucks when they were pressured.

• Logan Stanley had a night to forget, including two first-period penalties (one of which was an ill-advised closing hand on the puck call). Stanley has played in five straight since he recovered from knee surgery but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Haydn Fleury draw in against Detroit. That is, if Arniel is still interested in running a rotation for that sixth defenceman spot.

• The NHL’s best power play remains red-hot, with the Jets capitalizing on half of their four power plays. They’ve scored on 44.4 per cent of their man-advantages.

• Here’s an interesting stat: The Jets have scored six of their 40 goals with an empty net.

“It seems like we found the seam on a couple of them,” Connor said. "Maybe there’s something to that there.

"It’s almost a function of our power play in that sense. I think that type of mindset transfers over to six-on-five.”