Jets open home stand with loss to Ottawa

WINNIPEG - It wasn't the start to the home stand the Winnipeg Jets were looking for.
Coming off an emotional victory over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night, the Jets couldn't get back to that level on Saturday, as they dropped a 4-2 decision to the Ottawa Senators.
"I thought we looked like a team that just broke a seven-game streak and qualified for the playoffs and beat the team that knocked us out of the playoffs last year and we spent a lot in that game," said head coach Paul Maurice. "There wasn't a whole lot of emotion. The hard work was there. The effort was there. But the emotion was hard to find."
Tim Stützle recorded his first career hat trick and Connor Brown had three points in Ottawa's victory, which pushes the Senators to 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.
Mason Appleton and Mark Scheifele had the goals for the Jets.

"They're definitely playing well, I don't want to take anything away from them," said Jets captain Blake Wheeler, who had an assist in the game to extend his point streak to six games. "You do have to give these guys credit, especially when they've got the lead. They did a good job of clogging up the neutral zone. We had some looks and just our execution wasn't quite there."

Winnipeg (28-22-3) held Ottawa to 23 shots on goal while putting up 29 of their own. In the last meeting with the Senators, the Jets gave up a season low 18 shots.
The focus on being defensively sound is the main point of focus as the team prepares for the playoffs, even if it comes at the expense of some offence.
"We need to get more guys in front of their goalie and create some dirty pucks around the crease and bang in a couple dirty goals," said Wheeler. "That would be a good place to start. I think as well, when you're going through a tough stretch and you're scoring one or two goals a game, you've got a hockey team full of guys squeezing the stick pretty tight as well. We've got three games to hopefully build some confidence going into the playoffs."
Even though the Jets held an 8-1 lead in shots on goal, the Senators opened the scoring. Brown deflected a Victor Mete point shot past Connor Hellebuyck for his team-leading 20th goal of the season with 9:46 left in the opening period.

Just 1:16 later, Stützle tipped home a goal of his own - his 10th of his rookie campaign - to push the Ottawa lead to 2-0.
Those type of goals are the plays that occur in the postseason.
"All of us have seen an awful lot of playoff hockey. Pucks get put to the net, and the team willing to spend as much time as they can net-front and win it, right, it's not just about being there, there's scrums to the puck," said Maurice.
"We got the puck from the goal-line to the blue-line enough times tonight. We've got to get the puck from the blue-line to the net. Or, like they did, shots tipped."
Less than a minute in the second, the Jets cut into that lead. Scheifele threaded a perfect backhand pass out front to Mason Appleton, who made no mistake burying his 10th of the season to make it 2-1.
Appleton is the eighth member of the Jets to reach double digits in goals this season.
"As Mark rolled around the back of the net with the puck, I saw the D-man was kind of playing a 2-on-1 out of the corner," said Appleton. "Then you try to find a spot through the D-man's triangle or through his feet to get open for Scheif to find the lane. And you kind of read off of each other in that situation. I found the spot and the hole and Scheif saw me there and he made the play."
But Stützle's second of the night - which came off a cross-ice pass from Brown - put the Senators back up by two with 14:50 left in the third period.

It was the first time this season that Stützle had recorded a multi-goal game.
In the final minute of play, Scheifele took a pass from Wheeler on the right-wing side and beat Filip Gustavsson under the left arm to bring the Jets within one with 52.5 seconds left.
The goal gave Scheifele 20 on the season, joining Kyle Connor (22) and Nikolaj Ehlers (21) as members of the Jets to hit that number.
It was also the 200th goal of Scheifele's career.
He believes the team's offence will come.
"We've just got to capitalize," said Scheifele. "At the start of the game, we have a wave of chances and the goalie made some big saves. I think we've just got to sharpen up a little bit and bear down when we get those chances. And that can change the entire outcome of the game."

Stützle completed the hat trick with six seconds left in regulation, potting one into the empty net while the Jets were on the penalty kill and pressing for the equalizer.
The loss was frustrating after getting back in the win column on Wednesday, but the Jets will press on, as the home stand continues on Monday against the Vancouver Canucks.
It's another chance to build on good habits, especially considering it's becoming more apparent that the Jets will face either the Toronto Maple Leafs - who locked up the North Division title on Saturday - or the Edmonton Oilers in the first round.
"We're either getting an elite forward unit in Toronto, or we're getting the two elite scorers in the world. That's who we're getting," said Maurice. "The offensive part of our game is clearly lacking. But we're not outscoring these two teams and expecting to beat them in a playoff round. We've got to get this part right."