Jets blanked by Islanders in second game of home stand

WINNIPEG -Pierre-Luc Dubois felt Sunday's 4-0 loss to the New York Islanders could be summed up pretty easily.
"We didn't take advantage of our chances," he said. "They did. Frustrating."
It certainly is.
The loss is Winnipeg's third in a row, and fifth in their last six games, and part of the frustration comes from the fact that the team - as offensively-gifted as it is - has struggled to find the back of the net.
"We can't be a fragile team right now. I'm not saying that we are, but we certainly can't fall into that mode," said defenceman Josh Morrissey. "We're an aggressive team. We have to be able to make plays, make passes and not just panic because we're going through a little bit of a rut."

The last five-on-five goal the Jets were able to put on the board came from Mark Scheifele in the 4-1 win over the New York Rangers. Since then, 184:31 of game time has passed, and Winnipeg has scored two power play goals.

"When things don't go well and you're not scoring, don't look for that extra pass and don't look for the perfect goal - just put it on the net," said head coach Rick Bowness. "We just didn't score. And we lost the game. And that's all that matters."
The loss drops the Jets to 35-24-1 on the season and into the top wildcard spot in the Western Conference. It was a tough finish to the afternoon, and Winnipeg has dropped each of the first two games on the home stand.
After the first one - a 5-1 loss to Colorado - Bowness challenged his team to respond against the Islanders. The veteran coach didn't mind the team's start on Sunday, but felt Bo Horvat's shorthanded goal, which came 7:56 into the period, took some life out of the Jets.
"We didn't handle that well," said Bowness. "The second period… We needed to score in that second period and we didn't."
Despite Bowness shuffling the lines for the second period, the Islanders would increase the lead to 2-0. Alexander Romanov's slapshot from the point found its way through some traffic in front of Rittich with 4:22 off the clock in the middle frame.
The Jets outshot the Islanders 14-8 in the second, with quality chances off the sticks of Dubois, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Morrissey. Natural Stat Trick gave the Jets a 5-1 edge in high-danger scoring chances.
But they just couldn't score.
"You grip the stick a little bit tighter when you get a chance, and maybe you look to pass it in the net on occasion," said Morrissey. "We want to win all three games; 5 on 5, shorthanded and power play. So when you lose 4-0 you probably lost in all three or at least two out of three."
Brock Nelson's 27th of the season, a wrist shot off the rush with 1:19 on the clock beat Rittich under the right arm to put the Islanders on top 3-0.

Rittich finished the night with 20 saves on 23 shots.
"Ritter had to get into a game," said Bowness. "Connor played back-to-back, he played on Long Island. He's played a lot of hockey. So just gave him the day off. Can't keep playing him every game. And we have back-to-back next weekend."
The Jets outshot the Islanders 8-4 in the third, but Semyon Varlamov turned them all away to earn a 23-save shutout and Adam Pelech added an empty-netter to round out the scoring.
On top of the 23 shots the Jets were able to get on goal, they had another 24 blocked and a further 20 missed the net.
"For us right now, the answer is in here," said Dubois. "For guys in here, we've all been through a lot in our careers. Coaching staff included. So we can figure it out in here."

The final game on the home stand comes on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Kings, who currently hold down the second spot in the Pacific Division.
The Jets are scheduled to practice on Monday, in what is expected to be Nino Niederreiter's first skate with the team since he was acquired from Nashville on Saturday afternoon.
The five-time 20 goal scorer will no doubt provide a boost to the group, a fresh face in the room to bring up the spirits off the ice, and make the Jets even tougher to handle on it.
"I have not enjoyed playing against him throughout my career," said Dubois. "Being able to play with him will be really fun and comes at a perfect time where, you know, it can be a big boost for this team.
"No player can win the Stanley Cup alone. But he'll definitely be a good addition to this team."