The Winnipeg Jets probably should have snapped their losing streak in their last two games, but poor special teams mean the streak is now five and counting at a critical time of the season.
Power Play Impotent Versus Oilers and Golden Knights
If the Jets had converted on even a few of their many glorious power-play opportunities they had at key moments against the Oilers Tuesday or Golden Knights Thursday, they probably would have won both games. Unfortunately, both power-play units were impotent, going a combined zero-for-10 in the pair of contests, proving again that sometimes being good at five-on-five isn’t enough to win.
Against the Oilers, the Jets’ disorganized and predictable man advantage went zero-for-five. Most egregiously, they mustered up zero shots on a four-minute second-period power play while behind 2-1 after Connor Brown high sticked Dylan DeMelo.
If the Jets had tied the game on that man advantage, the Oilers’ third-period goal would have put them up 3-2 instead of 3-1, and the two goals the Jets scored in 60 seconds thereafter would have given them a 4-3 lead instead of drawing the game even.
The Jets had another great — and undeserved chance — to win in the final minutes when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was called for high-sticking Adam Lowry, even though it was actually DeMelo’s stick that caught his teammate up high. The Jets didn’t come close to scoring, the game went into overtime, and Zach Hyman quickly potted one to give the Oilers the win.
It was just “another night” in a growing list of contests that “our speciality teams cost us the game,” a frustrated head coach Rick Bowness said postgame.
“We gave up another power play goal against and our power play didn’t do anything,” he said. “We didn’t support the puck quick enough. Too much one-on-one and not making the next play. When you’re under pressure, you’ve got to be able to make that next play. And we weren’t making it. That’s what it comes down to. You need to work hard, you need support on the puck but when you get it, you’ve got to be able to make that next play and we weren’t making it because we didn’t handle the puck well enough.”
It was a similar story against…
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