3 Talking Points as Winnipeg Jets Lose 7-3 to Toronto Maple Leafs
The Winnipeg Jets ended their two-game road trip with a 7-3 loss versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. Here are three talking points from the Jets’ loss.
The Winnipeg Jets made the trip to Toronto yesterday evening to take on the Maple Leafs in the Jets’ second game of a back-to-back.
The Jets started this short trip well by picking up the 2-1 shootout victory in Buffalo the night before and had a great opportunity in this game to pick up points in a highly contested playoff race for the Western Conference Wild Card playoff spots.
Ultimately the Jets let this opportunity go to the wayside. Winnipeg and Toronto were tied 3-3 just over four minutes into the second period and then the Maple Leafs scored four goals en route to a 7-3 victory.
Here are our three talking points from Winnipeg’s loss:
3. Winnipeg Jets Let Good Start Go to Waste
As Dan St. Joseph noted in his talking points article from the Jets’ Wednesday night 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres, the Jets started slowly in that game and that is something that has hurt the Jets this season. He then noted that the Jets could ill-afford to have a slow start again versus Toronto.
Last night, the Jets started extremely well. Within four minutes of the opening puck drop, Blake Wheeler scored a highlight reel goal to give the Jets an early 1-0.
Then a couple of minutes later, Paul Stastny scored his eighteenth goal of the season to extend the Jets’ lead to two goals, but these goals seemed to be all that went right for the Jets in this one.
As we all know by the scoreline of this contest, Winnipeg let this great start go to waste and Toronto was able to equalize the scoreline in the opening stages of the second period.
2. Jets Allow Four Unanswered
As stated on the last slide, the Jets entered the second period with a 2-1 lead.
At the beginning of the second, William Nylander scored for the Leafs to tie the game, but then the Jets answered quickly courtesy of a Nikolaj Ehlers powerplay goal.
The Jets’ 3-2 lead only lasted for a matter of seconds as John Tavares tied the game at three within 38 seconds of Ehlers’ goal. From that point on, the Leafs controlled the game.
Toronto was able to score two more goals to take a commanding 5-3 lead into the final frame. In total, the Jets were outshot in the second period 13-5.
Toronto then added two shut the Jets down in the third and added two more tailles in the late stages of the final period.
Ultimately the Jets were not good enough in this game. They were outshot 38-23 and had eight giveaways in this contest.
1. Matthews Hits 50 Goal Mark
The Winnipeg Jets were a part of history last night as Maple Leafs’ star player, Auston Matthews scored a historic goal in his team’s win.
The twenty-four-year-old started this game sitting on 49 goals for this season and everyone knew that one more goal would put him in Toronto’s history books.
Fortunately, Matthews got a great chance to achieve this feat when the Jets pulled Eric Comrie in the closing stages of the final frame when down 5-3.
Matthews received a great breakout pass and had room to skate up the ice. A Jets defenseman then stepped up near the center ice red line, but before he could apply any pressure, Matthews released a shot that found its way into the back of the empty net, and then Scotiabank Arena erupted.
Matthews is now the fourth player in Maple Leafs’ history to reach the 50 goal mark in a season and currently leads the NHL in goals.
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The Winnipeg Jets will look to bounce back with a win when they return to action on Saturday night at the Canada Life Centre when they host the Los Angeles Kings.
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