THREE THINGS: Jets comeback falls short

WINNIPEG – Mikko Rantanen recorded three points leading the Dallas Stars to a 5-4 win over the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre putting a damper on the Jets home opener and Jonathan Toews debut. Kyle Connor scored three times and Morgan Barron added the other goal for Winnipeg, Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves. The Jets went 0-for-4 on the power play, the Stars went 1-for-5. Winnipeg will get right back to work when they host the Los Angeles Kings Saturday afternoon at 12:30 CT.

TOEWS DEBUT

After not playing in a regular season game for over two years, Jets fans welcomed back Jonathan Toews. The 37-year-old had his parents Bryan and Andrée in attendance along with longtime Blackhawks teammate Patrick Sharp. In the second period, Toews had a glorious chance to score his first goal when Nikita Chibrikov hit him coming up the middle of the ice, but Toews fired his shot wide of the goal. In the end, Toews played 18:19, had one shot on goal and liked what he saw from his line with Nikita Chibrikov and Gustav Nyquist.

"There were some situations where the three of us created and had some chances, even on the power play as well," said Toews.

"I was pretty close to making things happen, getting us on the board, so I think there are some positives I’m excited about. [I’ll] just keep trying to build on it."

PARADE TO PENALTY BOX CHANGED MOMENTUM

In the second period, the Jets ran into some penalty problems taking three consecutive minors giving Dallas a 5-on-3 power play advantage that carried over into the third period. After Winnipeg had almost killed off Neal Pionk’s penalty, Jason Robertson scored on his own rebound to make it 3-1 at 1:01. Just 34 seconds after that, Tyler Seguin converted a beautiful pass from Matt Duchene to give the Stars a three-goal lead. Wyatt Johnston then made it 5-1 as the Jets did not look the team that has been the best defensive squad in the league in back-to-back seasons.

"If we’re better with our structure and our details, we’re not giving up those looks," said head coach Scott Arniel.

"They scored three goals off entries. That’s not us. We don’t give up those plays with a guy who’s dead center in the middle of the ice, getting chances. We have to work on that."

KC DOING KC THINGS

With the Jets down 1-0 in the first period, it was time for some opening night magic from Kyle Connor. The 96-million-dollar man took a pass from Mark Scheifele and fired a shot behind Jake Oettinger to tie things up. Per NHL Stats, Connor has now scored in eight straight season-opening games dating to 2018-19, already the longest in NHL history. The only players with a streak of six or more contests are Cam Atkinson (6 GP from 2014-15 to 2019-20), Yvan Cournoyer (6 GP from 1973-74 to 1978-79) and Mud Bruneteau (6 GP from 1940-41 to 1945-46).

Connor didn’t stop there as he helped build off Morgan Barron’s shorthanded goal in the third period, as he would score two goals to complete the hat trick becoming the first player in Jets/Thrashers history to score a hat trick in a season-opening game.

"You give it a good team like that, 5-1 lead, it's tough, but this is a resilient group," said Connor.

"We've shown that a lot throughout the last year and over the past. And yeah, it was a great response. So we can take that out of it for sure."