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The Jets for the first 27 minutes of this game looked really good, but the Jets struggles in the second period this season continued in this game as a bad penalty kill and a last minute of the period goal against all but locked up a third straight Jets loss at home as they fall again to the New York Islanders 3-1.

First Period

A fast start for the Jets in the game as they had a series of good chances and strong forecheck work that gave the Islanders fits early on in the game. The hustle forced New York into a couple of different penalties, the first of which the Jets took advantage of as the Jets’ second power play unit continued it’s good work and saw a Nikolaj Ehlers goal to take a 1-0 lead.

The shots ended up being 16-5 for the Jets in a near dominating period.

Second Period

Again strong start to the period for the Jets and they actually prevented the Islanders from getting a shot in the first seven minutes of the period. The good times in the second period weren’t due to last though as Dmitry Kulikov took a penalty and the Jets much maligned penalty kill gave up a goal almost instantly for a tie 1-1 game.

From that point on the Islanders got back into the game big time and dominated play in the second half of the period, so much so that even going seven minutes without a shot, the Islanders still led the period in shots 12-8 making life very busy for Connor Hellebuyck

For a moment it looked like the Jets would get out of the period just tied, but then another hallmark of the Jets early season arrived: last minute goals against.

2-1 Islanders after two periods of play.

Third Period

Not exactly an inspiring effort from the Jets in the third period as the Islanders were content to lock things down and the Jets didn’t really press or play with any urgency to tie things up. The Jets did have four high danger chances but Semyon Varlamov was very in stopping those chances and all eight shots the Jets took in the period.

Still though, it didn’t feel as though the Jets had their best effort in the third period.

An Islanders empty net goal sealed their fate with seconds left in the game.

TL;DR Why The Jets Lost

A bad penalty kill in a very bad second period and a real lack of any kind of offensive drive in the third period as the Islanders smothered the Jets to capture a win in Winnipeg.

JetsNation’s Top Gun

Connor Hellebuyck had a .920 save percentage in a strong performance in a Jets loss, Ville Heinola had an outstanding game that proved he shouldn’t be scratched from this lineup, but yet again it’s Nik Ehlers who was a standout for the Jets tonight with a power play goal and five shots on goal to lead his team.

The Boxscore

Next Flight

The Jets have a couple of days between games now with an off day on Friday and some skating on Saturday before hosting the Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. game time is 6 PM CST with the game on Sportsnet One and TSN 1290