Jets fall to Hurricanes in home stand finale

WINNIPEG - Paul Maurice's assessment of the home stand finale - a 4-2 Winnipeg Jets loss to the Carolina Hurricanes - was concise.
"For the style of game that was going to be played today, we didn't skate nearly well enough to expect to win," said the Jets head coach. "There wasn't an easy way to get the puck to the net. We struggled with that."
Despite that though, the Jets (12-9-4) still found themselves in a tie hockey game in the final minutes of the second period after eliminating a 2-0 deficit thanks to goals from Nikolaj Ehlers and a highlight reel deflection by Pierre-Luc Dubois.
But two power play goals from the visitors, one late in the second and the other early in the third, sealed Winnipeg's fate. Especially when the home side couldn't cash in on a five-minute power play opportunity with 12:21 to go in regulation.

"When you got a team that's pressing you that hard, you want to move the puck from side to side," said Ehlers, adding the Jets weren't able to do that with regularity. " I think maybe a little bit more support to the guy that has the puck is something that we should have changed a little.
"We did score a power play goal today, but obviously when you're behind 4-2 and you get a five-minute power play, you want to at least get some momentum going."
After scoring the game's opening goal in the last two contests, the Jets found themselves trailing 30 seconds into Tuesday's contest. After a couple failed attempts to get the puck out, Jaccob Slavin's point shot snuck through the legs of Connor Hellebuyck to put Carolina up 1-0.
It was part of a run that saw Carolina get the game's first six shots on goal.

The visitors made it 2-0 just 1:12 into the second when Sebastian Aho shoved home a loose puck for his 11th of the campaign. The Jets challenged for goaltender interference, saying Aho's stick shoving Hellebuyck's pads is what forced the puck in, but the call on the ice stood as called.
"I've read the league's explanation about it. They called it a loose puck," said Hellebuyck, who finished with 30 saves. "I don't want to say I had it fully covered, but it was jammed on my pad by my doing, and it only came free once I was spun fully around. And his stick was in my knee, and not allowing me to do anything."
Winnipeg responded just 1:16 later at four-on-four, as Ehlers potted his fourth goal in three games, lifting a Paul Stastny saucer pass past Frederik Andersen on a two-on-one rush. It was the 10th goal of the season for Ehlers, becoming the third member of the Jets to hit double-digits in the goal column.
"When a team is that aggressive you want to chip pucks out, get pucks deep and work from there. I think we were able to do that a bit better in the second period," Ehlers said. "We've got to do that better, and that's something we're obviously going to look at and talk about."

The Jets pulled even on their fourth power play chance - and what a beauty it was. Dubois parked himself in front of Andersen, and when a pass from the right side boards came from Blake Wheeler, Dubois put his stick between his legs and redirected it in for a 2-2 tie.
It was the third straight game that the Jets power play found the back of the net, but it finished 1-for-5 on the night against a Hurricanes penalty kill ranked second in the National Hockey League.
"They checked very well. They have a lot of good skating killers who closed the gap on you," said Maurice. "We were constantly trying to get to the point where we could settle it down but that's not the kind of penalty kill. When you look at the goal we scored, it's not off a settled play. It's about quick puck movement and they were very good on the kill."
The Hurricanes (17-6-1) pulled back in front 3-2 with 20 seconds left in the middle frame on a power play of their own. Stastny broke his stick on the draw and the Jets couldn't clear the puck during a wild goal mouth scramble that finished with Martin Necas' sixth of the season.
An Adam Lowry holding penalty 1:52 into the third gave the Hurricanes another power play, and they'd cash in on that one too, with Vincent Trocheck getting to a loose puck in front for his sixth of the season and a 4-2 Hurricanes lead.
"They're on the puck. We, I think, when we play a very good game, we're that, we're the same way," Ehlers said. "It's something we obviously want to get back to. But like I said, when you play a team like that, you want to make it more simple for everyone and not try passes through the seam or things like that, you just want to get the puck out and skate."
Winnipeg finished the four-game home stand with two wins and two losses, and head out on the road for a short two-game road trip beginning Thursday night in Seattle against the Kraken.
"I liked three of the four games. I felt we were good enough to win the last two. But I felt we were good enough to win the last three," Maurice said of the home stand. "We weren't good enough to win tonight. They deserved it."