Jets open home stand with loss to Edmonton

WINNIPEG - Special teams has often been a weapon for the Winnipeg Jets this season. On Saturday night however, it was the Edmonton Oilers flexing their special teams' muscle.
The Jets (27-15-3) gave up two power play goals for the first time since Jan. 26 as they dropped a 3-0 decision to the Oilers in the first game of a five-game home stand.
"I don't know that we were where we needed to be to test them as well as we'd like to test them. I didn't think we had a lot going on up front offensively," said Jets head coach Paul Maurice.
"I didn't think we had that sharpness off transition to get into holes to make plays."

It's just the second time this season that the Jets have been shut out. Even the power play, which was 6-for-16 in the last four games, came up empty.
The best chance was a Mark Scheifele breakaway that Mike Smith turned aside, one of his 26 saves on the night.
"I could have made it 1-1," said Scheifele. "It's just one of those nights. I don't know how to put my finger on it. It's one of those nights that you have to flip the page and get some rest, work on some things in the practice time we have upcoming and be ready for the next one."
It would be easy for the Jets to use fatigue as an excuse.
They were coming off a five-game road trip that finished with victories on back-to-back nights against Ottawa and Toronto. The Oilers, meanwhile, hadn't played since April 10 - a 5-0 loss to the Calgary Flames.

But Adam Lowry was having none of that.
"Obviously it's tough coming off long road trips and finding your legs, but I thought early on we had some good jump," said Lowry. "They did a good job neutralizing it, playing tight defensively and we weren't able to capitalize on our chances. They ended up scoring a big power-play goal and that seemed to give them a little more life."
The Jets penalty kill, which had killed off 25 of the last 28 opposition power plays coming into the game, held strong through the first three Edmonton power play chances. On the fourth opportunity, the Oilers broke through.
Tyson Barrie's blast from the point got through some bodies in front an evaded Connor Hellebuyck, who had made a point blank save on Leon Draisaitl just moments prior to the goal.
Jets head coach Paul Maurice felt the three minor penalties the Jets took in the first period were a key part of the storyline.
"Just when you're grinding a little bit with your energy level, we got behind it there. You have your best offensive players on the bench watching the kills," said Maurice. "I've got Nik Ehlers on the bench and he's got eight and a half or nine minutes through two periods. He needs to get out there more to get into the flow and the rhythm."

In the third, Edmonton made it 2-0 when the Jets weren't able to clear the zone. Connor McDavid worked the puck below the goal line later in the shift and slipped a backhand pass to Jesse Puljujarvi in front. He flipped it over Hellebuyck for his 10th of the campaign with 13:23 to go in regulation.
McDavid now has 15 points in seven games against the Jets this season.
"He's the best player in the world for a reason," said Scheifele. "You can't give him time and space. He's so tricky with the puck. He makes plays that a lot of people don't make in this league. It makes it tough. You have to be aware of him every time he's on the ice and that's the tough thing."
Edmonton's second power play marker, a deflection by Alex Chiasson, increased the lead to 3-0 with a little over seven minutes left in the game. It was the first time the Jets had gave up two power play goals in the same game since Jan. 26. Ironically, that game on Jan. 26 was also against Edmonton.

The setback was Winnipeg's fourth straight loss to Edmonton this season. The skid comes after the Jets won two of the first three games of the season series, and were less than a second away from taking at least a point in the third of those first three meetings.
Overall, the Jets are 2-5-0 against Edmonton in 2020-21, the only team that Winnipeg has a losing record against in the North Division.
There are two meetings left with Edmonton this season, both of them are on this five-game home stand.
"Shutting down their two big guys, they always seem to find the scoresheet. That's going to be one of our challenges moving forward, how to neutralize them a little bit," said Lowry. "I think we have the guys in here, we have the team that can do that. It's going to be working out those kinks moving forward and getting ready for the next two that we play them."