Columbus Blue Jackets' goaltender Elvis Merzlikins (90) makes a save on Winnipeg Jets' Nino Niederreiter (62) during second period NHL hockey action in Winnipeg, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Greenslade
WINNIPEG – Mistakes and seeking the perfect play proved costly for the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.
Kent Johnson scored a pair of third-period goals to help the Columbus Blue Jackets snap a three-game losing skid with a 4-1 victory over the Jets.
“I think we had some offensive-zone shifts where you’re almost looking for the perfect play and by that time, they’re able to collapse and take away the middle of the ice,” said winger Kyle Connor, who scored Winnipeg’s lone goal.
“I think being quicker to get pucks to the net and creating that chaos, and those seam plays and everything else will come from that.”
The Jets (20-9-0) had a two-game win streak halted, which had followed a four-game losing streak.
After a 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues last week – Winnipeg’s fourth in a row – head coach Scott Arniel talked about the team having opportunities to attack the net, but instead players were looking for “one more play.”
The Columbus game was a bit of déjà vu.
“Earlier on, we had a real mindset that we were in attack mode all of the time and now we’re at times looking for that one extra pass,” Arniel said. “This is the time when you need the (shot) volume sometimes.”
He also pointed to a pair of costly third-period mistakes.
“Turnover in our end, turnover in the neutral zone. They turned around and put them right back in our net,” Arniel said.
Dmitri Voronkov and Sean Kuraly, into an empty net, also scored for Columbus (12-12-3). James van Riemsdyk had a pair of assists.
Elvis Merzlikins made 24 saves for the Blue Jackets, who ended a five-game road trip with a 2-3-0 record.
“We’re tired from this long road trip and (the Jets) had back-to-backs so it was even,” Merzlikins said. “It was a good win. I’m really happy.”
Winnipeg beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 Saturday afternoon to end a season-high six-game road trip.
“Everybody in there felt great, there’s no excuses,” Connor said. “We had that game tied at home going to the third, you want that one.”
Eric Comrie stopped 24 shots for Winnipeg, which played in Chicago Saturday afternoon.
“(Comrie) played great,” Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo said. “He wasn’t the reason we lost. We weren’t good on any of the goals we gave up.”
The Jets didn’t get their first shot on goal until a power play five minutes into the game, and were outshot 12-6 by the visitors.
Connor scored his team-leading 15th goal of the season on Winnipeg’s fourth power play of the game when his shot from the right circle went over Merzlikins’ left pad at 11:51 of second period.
Columbus had its second power play shortly after Connor’s goal and didn’t waste it.
Voronkov made it 1-1 went he banged in the puck that had bounced off the post at 13:53.
Johnson gave the Blue Jackets the lead off a rebound at 7:15 of the third and added his eighth goal of the season at 9:42 on a two-on-one with van Riemsdyk.
“It was a perfect pass, so pretty easy to one-time,” said Johnson, who was playing his second game on a line with van Riemsdyk and Sean Monahan.
Winnipeg went 1-for-4 on the power play. Columbus was 1-for 2.
The Jets had gone into the game with only one power-play goal in 14 chances in their previous five games.
“Earlier in the year, a lot of those pucks were getting through,” Arniel said. “Now the opposition is trying to get in and make sure we’re not getting those shot opportunities.”
It’s something they’ll work on.
“Kind of like the five-on-five,” Arniel said. “We know what our mindset needs to be when we have the puck. We’ll continue hammering that home.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2024.
