The Jets fired 42 shots at Winnipeg native Calvin Pickard but only solved him once, Adam Lowry’s second of the season. Max Jones opened the scoring with his first of the year, former Jet Jack Roslovic made it 2-0, Lowry got the club on the board in the third, and Zach Hyman scored an empty-net goal to ice the game. Connor Hellebuyck turned aside 18 shots as Winnipeg dropped to 15-18-4.
Can’t buy a goal
I’ll give the Jets’ offence credit, they played well, and nine times out of ten the Jets win this game, but Pickard was absolutely brilliant between the pipes for Edmonton. Winnipeg had its looks on the power play but went 0-for-3 on their chances. Jets head coach Scott Arniel thought his club generated good looks with the man advantage as well, but they just couldn’t finish.
“Again, it’s us finishing. The finishing aspect. Our power play spent almost the whole time in their end of the rink on our three power plays,” said Scott Arniel. “We had eight quality scoring chances on our power play. All these things have to… When they all seem to… When everything seems to be working, we’re scoring three, four, five goals a game and you’re not talking about this stuff.”
Winnipeg outshot Edmonton 42-21 and led in shot attempts 80-45.
Close as it gets
Offence didn’t feel like the issue, it was simply the finishing that was nowhere to be found. The top line of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Gabriel Vilardi had a terrific game but were snakebitten. The Jets did get some secondary scoring from Lowry to pull within one, but he acknowledged that secondary scoring has been a struggle.
“You know what, it was just nice to pull us back in the game. It had been a while,” said Lowry. “It’s no secret secondary scoring has really been an issue for us. So I felt like it helped bring the building to life, but I’d trade that for a win.”
800 games for Lowry
Jets captain Adam Lowry became the fourth player to play 800 games for the Jets/Thrashers, joining Mark Scheifele (915), Blake Wheeler (897), and Bryan Little (843).
The Jets now head to Detroit, Michigan to open a three-game road trip on New Year’s Eve against the Red Wings. Puck drop is set for 5:30 on Sportsnet West.