Jets final road game of the season ends in a 5-3 defeat in Utah after almost completing a 3rd period comeback

The Jets were officially eliminated from playoff contention last night, losing 6-2 to the Golden Knights on the road. The loss didn’t really end up being that costly, as the Kings clinched the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a win. Tonight in Utah, on game number 81 of the regular season, the Jets visited the Mammoth. The Jets entered Tuesday morning officially out of a playoff spot with two games remaining. The 35-33-12 Jets took on the 42-32-6 Mammoth, a team that’s clinched a playoff spot but is still looking to secure the 1st wild card spot.

The Jets line combinations stayed the same as last game. Gabriel Vilardi stayed on line 1, Brad Lambert stayed on line 2, Nino Niederreiter was on the 3rd line wing with Yager and Chibrikov, and Cole Koepke, Jonathan Toews and Isak Rosen formed the 4th line. Dylan Samberg and Colin Miller formed the 2nd defence pairing, and Haydn Fleury and Jacob Bryson remained as the 3rd pairing. As this is game 81, it’s pretty safe to assume that Vladislav Namestnikov, Neal Pionk, Alex Iafallo, Morgan Barron, Gustav Nyquist and Elias Salomonsson will be out for the rest of the season.

After a busy night for Connor Hellebuyck last night, Eric Comrie got the start in goal tonight. Comrie entered tonight’s game with a 12-9-1 record, a 2.95 GAA and a .894 SV% and no shutouts. The Jets haven’t confirmed a starter for the season finale on Thursday yet, but they’ll likely go with Comrie again as the goalies on the Manitoba Moose are preparing for the AHL playoffs. Tonight’s game went in favour of the Mammoth for the first two periods, and despite a good effort in the 3rd from the Jets, it wasn’t quite enough to complete a comeback, as the Mammoth picked up the two points.

1st Period

Tonight’s game started with both teams getting some scoring chances with a pretty fast paced opening. The Mammoth would open the scoring eight minutes into the game. After a faceoff at centre ice, Nate Schmidt sent Logan Cooley in on a breakaway, and on the backhand Cooley slid it under Comrie to open the scoring.

Just under three minutes later, MacKenzie Weegar took the game’s first penalty. The Jets powerplay couldn’t get much going, similar to last night’s game where there weren’t any real high danger chances. A few minutes after the penalty expired, Adam Lowry took a penalty, sending the Mammoth on a man advantage with four minutes left in the 1st. Comrie stayed sharp on the penalty kill and kept this game at 1-0 Mammoth. After 20 minutes played the Mammoth led in shots on goal 14-6.

2nd Period

The 2nd started in favour of the Mammoth, and they would get a chance to extend the lead with a powerplay a little after four minutes into the 2nd. Less than fourty seconds later, Dylan Guenther and Mikhail Sergachev set up Nick Schmaltz in front for his 32nd goal of the season on a rebound.

After going down two the Jets tried to generate more offence, but still weren’t able to get much going. The Jets only had 9 shots on goal at the halfway point of this game, and a few minutes later Brayden Yager took a hooking penalty, giving the Mammoth their 2nd powerplay of the middle frame.

At this point in the game you could tell that the team that had something to play for had that extra level of effort. Comrie was keeping the Jets in this game, and there wasn’t many chances for the Jets as the 2nd period went on. The Jets got a chance to get on the board with a powerplay late in the 2nd, and they would courtesy of Kyle Connor. Mark Scheifele and Gabriel Vilardi set up Connor for his 39th goal of the season off the rush.

With just under two minutes remaining Brad Lambert took a high-sticking penalty. The Jets got outshot 15-6 in the 2nd period and were now losing the shot battle 29-12. Despite this, the Jets still had a chance to pick up the win on their final road game of the season.

3rd Period

The 3rd period started with some pushback from the Jets, before Jonathan Toews took a slashing penalty. Just over halfway into the powerplay, Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley set up Nick Schmaltz in front on a nice passing play to make it 3-1 Mammoth.

26 seconds later, the Mammoth extended their lead. Alex Kerfoot and Michael Carcone set up JJ Peterka in front of the faceoff dot, and Peterka cut to the net and wristed one past Comrie to make it 4-1 Mammoth with around 12 minutes remaining.

Five minutes later, Mark Scheifele continued his incredible season with another goal. Gabriel Vilardi and Kyle Connor started the play up the ice, and Scheifele almost lost the puck, but it wasn’t fully picked off by the Mammoth defender and Scheifele made a nice deke before finishing his 36th goal of the season, extending his franchise record for points.

15 seconds later the Jets got a powerplay after Michael Carcone took a high sticking penalty. In the second half of the powerplay, Isak Rosen sniped home his 6th goal of the season right after a Jets faceoff win. The Jets best period was easily the 3rd tonight, and they didn’t go down without a fight as they were now down 4-3 with just over five minutes remaining.

The Jets kept up their momentum after this goal, trying to complete this 3rd period comeback. After a few more chances, the Jets sent Comrie to the bench for the extra attacker with one minute remaining. The Mammoth locked down defensively in the final minute, and Alexander Kerfoot scored a long distance empty netter with 24 seconds left.

Final score in tonight’s game was 5-3 Mammoth. The Jets led in shots on goal in the 3rd period 12-7, but the Mammoth led in shots on goal in the game 36-24. The Mammoth picked up a key two points as they’ll avoid having to face the Colorado Avalanche in round 1. The loss doesn’t mean much for the Jets, but it does slightly improve their draft lottery odds, as they’ll likely pick inside the top 10 in the upcoming draft.

Up Next

After tonight’s game, the Jets will return home for their regular season finale at Canada Life Centre. Their regular season concludes with game 82 on Thursday with fan appreciation night against the San Jose Sharks. Puck drop for this final game will be just after 7:00 pm CDT. Stay tuned here at Jets Nation for all of the latest Jets news (including the latest off season news), plus previews and recaps on each Jets game this season.

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