All was good through 40 minutes at the MTS Centre Friday night but the Winnipeg Jets couldn’t hold on.
The Jets led the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 heading into the third period before an utter collapse that would be so much more alarming if, you know, the games actually meant something. The Oilers outshot Winnipeg 16-11 in the frame, giving up three goals in a span of less than ten minutes – capped off by a Rob Klinkhammer shorthanded goal to send it into overtime.
Anton Slepyshev scored the winner halfway through the OT period to give the Oilers the win and drop the Jets to 0-1-2 on the preseason. Head coach Paul Maurice wasn’t overly concerned with the collapse, via Ryan Dittrick of winnipegjets.com.
“You never want to be casual with your losses, but it gives you something to be gained by we can be better at that time in the game,” he said, “I didn’t think there was a defining moment to (the breakdown).”
Andrew Copp had another strong performance for the Jets and he has certainly reaffirmed his position as the favorite to win the fourth line centreman’s job out of camp for the Jets. Another encouraging sing for Copp was Maurice’s move of Nic Petan to the wing for this game. The Jets may be looking at a wing position for Petan and might not be doing that if Copp wasn’t playing so well.
The Jets next action comes late Sunday afternoon when they take on the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul.