Jets head into player break with loss to Wild

ST. PAUL, Minnesota - With Shawn Matthias joining Adam Lowry, Brandon Tanev and Mark Scheifele on the injured list on Saturday, you could understand why this five-day player break comes at the perfect time for the Winnipeg Jets.

Head Coach Paul Maurice agreed that it was a difficult challenge for his group to match the energy of the Wild, who hadn't played since Wednesday.
"You have your whole group kind of behind the game," explained Maurice. "We weren't particularly strong in any department. I mean, our power play was good for the four minutes or so that we had. Other than that, we weren't a good hockey team tonight."

The Jets ran into two teams on back-to-back nights that are fighting to stay in the playoff picture in the Western Conference and are playing desperate hockey.
"I think we've all played back-to-backs growing up in junior or college or even three-in-threes," said defenceman Josh Morrissey. "Although it is hard in the NHL, especially in those grinding divisional games. That's just something you have to get used to as a pro and understand how to handle it. I think in a game like that, we need to make simpler plays and just try to get into that grinding game as soon as we can, and I think it took us too long tonight.
Morrissey took the first penalty of the game at 7:24 for interference and the Wild took advantage. Ryan Suter's wrist shot from on top of the faceoff circle was tipped in by Mikael Granlund at the top of the crease to make it 1-0 Minnesota.
It was the third time in four games that the Jets have surrendered a power-play goal.
With 8:51 left in the first, the Jets took another penalty, this time for having too many men on the ice and then followed that up with Tyler Myers going to the box for cross checking to give the Wild a two-man advantage for 1:17. The penalty killers did a great job and shut down the Minnesota power play, but it did play a big part of the Wild outshooting the Jets 23-5 in the opening frame.

At 5:20 of the second, the Wild almost took a two-goal lead when Jason Zucker went in alone on Connor Hellebuyck. but the Jets netminder made the save with his left arm. Moments later, Zucker scored, anyway, just 20 seconds after the first chance when he slammed home a puck that took a friendly bounce off the end boards.
2-0 Minnesota.
The Jets showed some life in the second after Maurice switched the left wings on the top two lines, with Mathieu Perreault moving up with Blake Wheeler and Patrik Laine, and Kyle Connor moving down to the second unit with Bryan Little and Nikolaj Ehlers.
"I think Paul was just trying to was trying to get the guys going," said Perreault. "I don't know if it's going to stick or not."
"We had no sustained pressure really," added Maurice. "Matty will get on the puck a little bit and Blake needed that tonight, so we just made a few adjustments. We couldn't get anybody to the net and had a hard time getting pucks to the net."

Winnipeg was actually carrying the play for most of the second period before Dustin Byfuglien took a hooking penalty at 16:33. During the power play, Joel Armia intercepted a pass and went in alone on Devan Dubnyk. The Wild starter poke checked the puck off Armia's stick before the Jets forward could finish his move.
The Jets outshot the hosts 17-9 in the middle frame and took a man advantage into the final period as Marcus Foligno was whistled for tripping with 11 seconds left.
At the start of the third, Wheeler and the Jets power play went to work just 47 seconds in when the Jets captain threaded a pass that Perreault tapped in for his 13th of the season to make it 2-1.

"For a little guy he plays his heart out," Wheeler said about Perreault. "We were just looking for somebody to get in those corners. Obviously, a big part of my game is getting in there and playing in the offensive zone, and he gave us a lot of energy."
The Wild restored their two-goal lead as Matt Dumba walked into a slap shot from the right faceoff dot that beat Hellebuyck short side at 6:23. Dumba was left wide open on the play and was able to walk in from the point untouched.
With 6:28 left, Dumba scored his second of the night with a slap shot that got by a screened Hellebuyck and suddenly it was 4-1, which rounded out the scoring on the night.
The Jets head to the five-day player break still in first place in the Central, but desperately need some bodies back from injury.

"We've got some key pieces in terms of our structure and how we run our bench that we've missed," said Maurice. "We've actually done a great job and getting wins without them, but we hope we will get a bunch of those guys back."
The Jets will now have the next five days off and will return to practice Friday, Jan. 19 at Bell MTS Place before leaving for Calgary for a Saturday matinee tilt with the Flames the following day.
- Jamie Thomas, WinnipegJets.com