WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Jets knew they were going to have a tough time replacing Josh Morrissey against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night. As Haydn Fleury put it before the game, you don’t just replace one of the best d-men in the NHL.
“Josh is one of the premier defencemen in this league, so there's no other Josh Morrissey coming into the lineup,” Fleury said. “So, I think all the rest of us just have to do what we do best and play our game.”
The Jets found out just how much they missed Morrissey, particularly on the power play. Winnipeg went 0-for-4 with the man advantage in a 5-1 loss to the Ducks on Friday night.
Despite the fact Winnipeg couldn't find a way to score on the power play, Scott Arniel liked the chances that they created especially when they were down 2-0.
"Scheif, the quality ones that he had and Gabe had some great looks, KC, all of them did. You know what, if they’re getting (those chances), that’s the big thing. First, are we creating those opportunities? Then we’ve got to bear down and put them home," said Arniel.
"I liked that part of it, but in a game like that, where the schedule is hard on you, the power play can help you right there and get you right back in the game.”
Kyle Connor scored the lone goal for the Jets who are now 3-1-1 on the season. Clay Stevenson made 12 saves in his first start in Winnipeg.
The Jets had the better of the scoring chances through the first 14 minutes, but it was Anaheim that struck first. Jeff Malott got behind the Jets defence, and while Stevenson stopped his shot, Judd Caufield was there to bang home the rebound at 14:41.
The Ducks made it 2-0 in the second after a Jets turnover in the offensive zone turned into another odd-man rush. Malott found Tim Washe, who one-timed it past Stevenson to give Anaheim some breathing room.
The Jets nearly got burned by another turnover before the end of the period. Ryan Poehling found himself all alone in front of Stevenson, but the Jets netminder came up with a big save to keep it a two-goal game heading into the third.
"We were playing simple, getting pucks behind them and I thought we had a really good start. And then in the second we kind of got away from that. Maybe trying too much, thinking we had to play a little bit of catch-up with the goal deficit," said Mario Ferraro.
"I think we just fed into their transition game a little bit too much there in the second and third. We showed a pretty good example of the way we need in the first, and then it kind of went south from there.”
Just over four minutes into the final frame, though, the Ducks added another. Beckett Sennecke went around the Jets defence and spotted Sam Colangelo all alone in the slot, feeding him a perfect pass that Colangelo buried to make it 3-0.
The Jets finally got on the board at 10:36 of the third, with the dynamic duo connecting once again. Mark Scheifele spotted Kyle Connor just inside the Ducks’ blueline, and the speedy winger took it from there, scoring his sixth of the season. It was also the 329th goal of Connor’s career, moving him past Ilya Kovalchuk into third place on the Jets’ all-time goal-scoring list.
