Jets drop preseason finale to Devils

WINNIPEG - A hectic six games in eight days came to an end Thursday night for the Winnipeg Jets, as they wrapped up the preseason schedule with a 5-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
Mathieu Perreault and Kyle Connor each scored their first of the preseason, while Skyler McKenzie added his third to round out the Jets offence.
While the team won't spend too much time going over the game tape, head coach Paul Maurice said performances like Skyler McKenzie's throughout training camp help the new pro get on the NHL club's radar.
"He's got some nifty hands on him. He's going to get, over the next few years, stronger and faster," Maurice said of McKenzie. "You don't have to get bigger to play here.You just have to be really fast. You've seen Matty Perreault, you can play in the National Hockey League. He got himself on the radar."

Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves in his third appearance prior to the regular season and felt the three games he played in gave him a good foundation heading into a week of practice.
"Five goals, I'm not happy with that. I'm still building," said Hellebuyck. "I'm really excited because I'm going to get better and if I feel good now, it's only going to get better."
The Jets power play got things rolling for the home side. Perreault took pass from Blake Wheeler on the goal line to Keith Kinkaid's immediate left, and the Jets forward quickly pivoted in front and tucked the puck under Kinkaid's pad for his first of the preseason.
"Usually it's (Kyle Connor) in that spot, but he was on the ice so they sent me there. He sent it down low to me a couple times, and I sent it back to him. I felt I had a little bit of room so I took it to the net," said Perreault, who is happy to have the preseason in the rear view mirror.
"It was a good training camp. We had a some great skates, played some good games. Now we have to focus on what's ahead. The season is starting, and we're excited for that."

The lead was short lived, as the Devils answered with two goals in 50 seconds.
First, Andy Greene took a backdoor pass from Jesper Bratt and beat Connor Hellebuyck on the stick side. Then Sami Vatanen's shot from the right side boards went off two Devils, the last being Kyle Palmeiri next to the left post and over the line, giving the Devils a 2-1 lead.
The Devils would extend the lead 1:21 into the second, when Vatanen's shot from the right circle beat a screened Hellebuyck on the short side.
Before the midway mark of the middle frame, the Jets would claw to within one. On a delayed penalty call, Mark Scheifele slid a quick backhand drop pass to Connor, who found some space in the right circle. Connor, who scored 31 goals to lead all NHL rookies last season, wasted no time firing home his first of the preseason.
The trio of Connor, Wheeler, and Scheifele finished the preseason with 15 points.
"It's going the right way. We need to play with a lot of speed and we started to ramp it up there," Connor said of his line. "We got a couple practices here that I'm sure will be nice and get us ready for the regular season."

Just 17 seconds into the third, the Devils would restore the two-goal cushion, as Winnipeg product Travis Zajac potted a rebound just under the pad of Hellebuyck's outstretched pad, putting the Devils in front 4-2.
A little under three minutes later though, Skyler McKenzie deflected a point shot from Joe Morrow through the legs of Kinkaid, and just like that, the Jets were back within one.
It was McKenzie's third goal of the preseason.
"That's the first stage. In that style of game, he's not taking Patrik's job, and he's not taking Blake's job yet, and (Brandon Tanev) does a different job and now he's competing with those other guys," said Maurice.
"That was the silver lining in our schedule. All these guys got way more of a chance than they normally would have, and a bunch of them made the most of it."

The back-and-forth affair would continue, as Damon Severson took a seam pass from Marcus Johansson in the high slot, and one-timed it past Hellebuyck with 9:59 left in regulation, putting the Devils up 5-3.
That's the way it would end, and now Maurice plans to cut down the roster to prepare for the season opener on Oct. 4.
"It's all speed now. Getting up to speed - hands, gap, defensively," said Maurice. "For a group of guys, Scheifele's line, that's their third game. They've had one day off. That means they've just practiced. Now they need to get into games and get playing.
"When you're looking at the season starting two weeks away, sometimes it's hard to get to that speed. Now we'll get to quickness."