This has not been a good road trip for the Winnipeg Jets.
Despite getting several key players back in the lineup over the past two weeks, the Jets continued to struggle away from home on Thursday night, thrice letting a lead get away in a 5-3 loss in Seattle.
The two sides traded markers for the first six goals of the game, but the Kraken scored the only three goals in the third period to beat the Jets for the second time this season.
The Jets only allowed 18 shots on goal the entire game, but the Kraken made the most of their quality chances.
“We haven’t played a full 60 (minutes),” said Jets forward Kyle Connor. “There was some glimpses that we really liked our game, but we just kinda fall asleep and we’re not executing, we’re playing slow at times and yeah, it’s tough to get something going.”
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The Kraken were the lowest scoring team in the NHL and it was the first time all season they’ve scored five times in a game.
“We just made too many mistakes tonight,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “Three goals in our D-zone coverage, strictly coverage situations that we blew. And then our execution throughout the game was really poor.
“We gave up five goals however they came about. Those three were D-zone coverage, power play and then obviously the empty-netter. I don’t care what game you’re in, you can’t give up goals like that.”
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It was the first time the Jets lost a game this season when leading after two periods.
The loss drops the Jets to just 1-4 on their longest road trip of the season.
“Obviously this isn’t the road trip that we planned,” said Jets forward Cole Perfetti. “Didn’t start it great. We had a great game in Vancouver there and couldn’t follow it up.”
Dylan Samberg and Gustav Nyquist both returned to the lineup from the injured list. It was Samberg’s season debut after missing the first 16 games with a broken wrist he suffered in the pre-season. He had two shots on goal, two blocks, and two hits in a little over 23 minutes of ice time in his first game back.
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“He’s gonna log big minutes as he did,” said Arniel. “Saw some things on the PK (penalty kill) with his movement and quickness, getting into lanes. But just for him, I’m sure, I haven’t talked to him yet, but there’s some rust there. But I liked a lot of what he did and just he helps calm things down.”
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Winnipeg didn’t have much going for them in the opening half of the first period but just past the midway point, they broke the ice thanks to their third line.
Along with Dylan DeMelo, they broke up the ice on a 4-on-3 rush with Alex Iafallo passing to his left to Nino Niederreiter as they entered the Seattle zone. Niederreiter quickly touched it over to DeMelo, who then sent it down low to Adam Lowry. As Iafallo cut to the net, Lowry tried to pass him the puck and it went off either his skate or his stick and into the goal.
Winnipeg’s lead lasted just under five minutes before the Kraken drew level.
It started when Jaden Schwartz forced a turnover behind the Winnipeg net as he put some pressure on DeMelo. The puck was retrieved by Chandler Stephenson along the wall and he skated it back to the point before dropping it off to Vince Dunn. Dunn passed it down to the faceoff dot to Schwartz, who put a shot on net that was tipped by Kaapo Kakko and past Connor Hellebuyck.
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Seattle outshot the Jets 8-4 in the first and out-attempted Winnipeg 18-10.
The Jets regained the lead at the 3:18 mark of the second period after Samberg forced a turnover at the Jets blueline as several Seattle players went off for a change.
The puck landed on the stick of Neal Pionk, who spotted Mark Scheifele all alone up the ice and hit him with a perfect stretch pass. Scheifele then darted into the Kraken zone on a breakaway and ripped a shot off the post and in to beat Philipp Grubauer for this 10th goal of the season.
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But once again, the Jets couldn’t hold onto the lead for very long.
Just over four minutes after Scheifele scored, Dunn brought the Kraken back level. He started the play by skating the puck down the wall before sending it below the goal line to Ryan Winterton.
Winterton tried to slide it through the crease, but the puck was deflected into the slot where Dunn and Josh Morrissey whacked at the puck at the same time, sending it fluttering high over Hellebuyck, off the post and into the net.
Late in the period with the game still tied, Seattle found themselves on their second power play of the night but Connor made a great play to draw a penalty as he earned a good scoring chance in the Kraken zone.
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Fittingly, it was Connor who cashed in with the man advantage.
Winnipeg kept possession of the puck for a long stretch, cycling it around the Seattle zone but unable to get much of a look on net before Morrissey sent Connor a pass that he one-timed through Grubauer for his 10th goal of the season and, astonishingly, his first power play goal since Dec. 23, 2024.
Seattle took a too-many-men penalty in the dying seconds of the middle period, giving Winnipeg 1:46 of power play time to start the third after outshooting Seattle 13-5 in the second.
The Jets couldn’t take advantage but just a few minutes after the Kraken killed it off, they got another power play of their own and made good to even the score again when Eeli Tolvanen took a pass from Dunn and one-timed it past Hellebuyck at the 4:11 mark.
Just over three minutes later, Seattle scored again to grab their first lead of the night. The Kraken were outnumbered as they carried the puck into the Winnipeg end, with Mason Marchment taking his time with the puck near the corner.
He passed it back near the point to Matty Beniers as Jordan Eberle slipped away from DeMelo near the net, skated behind the goal and parked himself, undetected, on the opposite side of the crease. Beniers then sent Eberle a perfect pass that the Seattle captain steered into the net.
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Winnipeg was unable to answer back as Seattle iced the game with an Eberle empty netter with 1:35 remaining.
Hellebuyck made just 13 saves in defeat as the Jets fell to 7-1 this season when leading after two periods. Grubauer stopped 23 shots for the win.
Winnipeg finishes off what to this point has been a rough road trip Saturday night in Calgary.