There’s just something about the New York Islanders that the Winnipeg Jets struggle with.
The Jets fell again to the Isles 3-2 Tuesday night on Long Island, their fifth straight road loss to New York and ninth in their last eleven meetings overall.
It’s also the first time in two months that the Jets have gone three straight games without a win.
Winnipeg looked to be the better team out of the gate, outshooting the Islanders 10-3 at one point. They also had the game’s first power play and while they did not convert, it was a solid effort by the Jets who began the night mired in a season-long drought when it came to power play success.
However, over the final 8:32 of the period, New York outshot the Jets by a whopping margin of 14-0, leading to the game’s opening goal.
With the Jets shorthanded, the Islanders won a puck battle along the boards, resulting in a couple of penalty killers having to chase the play. The puck went across the ice to Brock Nelson, who sent it back across the ice to a wide-open Kyle Palmieri for a one-timer that Connor Hellebuyck had no chance of stopping.
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New York carried that lead into the second and doubled it on the first shot of the period. A breakdown in the neutral zone allowed Nelson to skate the puck deep into Winnipeg’s end all while Maxim Tsyplakov skated towards the net unchecked. The two Islanders executed a perfect give-and-go that resulted in a Nelson tap-in that made it 2-0 just 1:33 into the middle frame.
Winnipeg got on the board at the 8:48 mark as their lagging power play finally caught a break. A Josh Morrissey point shot banked off the skate of Simon Holmstrom and past Ilya Sorokin, snapping an 0/19 stretch for the Jets’ power play.
The Jets were the better team for most of the second, outshooting the Islanders 13-7 in the period but New York remained in front 2-1 after 40 minutes.
They regained their two-goal lead just over four minutes into the third. Logan Stanley gave the puck away below his goal line and the Islanders cycled it back to the point where Dauphin native Ryan Pulock blasted a knuckler that skimmed along the ice, off the skate of Rasmus Kupari and into the net to make it 3-1.
Stanley played in an elevated role with Neal Pionk in this game because Dylan Samberg was away from the team for family reasons.
Winnipeg earned their third power play of the night with 8:37 remaining and they made good on the opportunity to make it a one-goal game. The Islanders won the first face-off after the penalty and cleared the puck but after Winnipeg regained the zone, they kept the puck in for almost 90 seconds before Nikolaj Ehlers found the back of the net.
Kyle Connor sent the puck down low for Ehlers, who started the play with his back to the net but quickly swung around to his forehand and beat Sorokin to the blocker-side, making it a one-goal game with 7:09 to go.
Hellebuyck went to the bench for an extra attacker with 1:34 on the clock but the Isles survived a late flurry from the Jets to get a much-needed win as they look to stick around in the Eastern Conference standings.
Hellebuyck stopped 26 shots in defeat while Sorokin made 27 saves for the victory.
Winnipeg will look to snap their three-game winless skid when they visit the Flyers on Thursday. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB begins at 4 p.m. with the puck dropping just after 6 p.m.
