Playing in their final home game before the holiday break, the Winnipeg Jets were hoping to give their fans an early Christmas gift.
Instead, they couldn’t hold onto a late lead, falling to the Ottawa Senators 3-2 in overtime Monday night.
Ottawa had the best looks to score early in the game, earning a pair of power plays but could not convert. Lightly-used fourth liner Kurtis MacDermid nearly scored as well when his slap shot beat Connor Hellebuyck but rang off the iron.
Winnipeg nearly got on the board first when Nino Niederreiter took a stab at a loose puck near the Ottawa crease but Linus Ullmark made a sprawling pad save to keep it out.
The Jets also failed on a power play look late in the first as both teams finished the opening period with seven shots on goal.
The parade to the penalty box continued in the second as both teams took penalties in the opening five minutes but neither side could generate much of anything on the man advantage.
The game opened up a bit near the midway point of the period with the teams going up and down the ice, each having a decent chance or two before the Senators opened the scoring at the 10:47 mark.
Winnipeg’s top line lost control of the puck in the Ottawa end as Josh Morrissey went off for a change. MacDermid carried the puck into the Winnipeg end as Luke Schenn came off the bench and into the play, cutting toward MacDermid.
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Mark Scheifele also skated in that direction, but Neal Pionk was already there, so with three players on one side of the ice, Nick Cousins found himself wide open on the other side. MacDermid hit him with a pass and Cousins made no mistake, trickling a shot through Hellebuyck for his fifth of the season.
Just under five minutes later, the Jets answered. After a long shift in the Ottawa end, Kyle Connor fed Neal Pionk at the point for a one-timer. Pionk’s shot was a knuckler, taking a dive and bouncing off the ice en route to the net, fluttering past a fooled Ullmark for his second of the season.
Winnipeg’s blue line continued to supply the offence with 1:25 to go in the second. Ottawa turned the puck over in the neutral zone thanks to a hit by Morgan Barron, allowing Gabriel Vilardi to take the puck into the Senators’ end. He gave it to Barron as he skated into the zone, who in turn slipped it across to Logan Stanley, jumping up into the play.
He beat Ullmark with a wrister (that probably should have been stopped) to give the Jets their first lead of the night.
For Stanley, it was the continuation of a stunning goal-scoring binge, a third goal in his last four games and a sixth this season after scoring no more than one in each of his first five seasons in the NHL. It also moved him into a tie (with three forwards) for fourth on the team in goals scored this season.
Ottawa wound up outshooting Winnipeg 12-10 in the second but the Jets took the 2-1 lead into the third.
Tim Stutzle nearly tied the game in the third when he sent a backhand on net but it glanced off the shaft of Hellebuyck’s stick and careened into the corner.
Winnipeg did a good job of minimizing chances for the Senators before Ottawa pulled Ullmark with 2:40 on the clock, and with 1:54 left on the clock, the Sens drew level.
The Jets tried and failed to clear the puck, with Stutzle taking the failed clear and finding Jake Sanderson in the middle of the ice at the point. He created some space for himself with a nice shot fake before sending a shot on goal.
Mark Scheifele, standing outside of the shooting lane, stuck his stick in the air to try and knock it down. Instead, the shot knocked the stick of Scheifele out of his hands and the deflection caused the puck to change directions and flutter past Hellebuyck to tie the game.
Both teams had great chances in the opening minute of overtime, with the best coming off the stick on Connor on a 2-on-1 with Scheifele but Ullmark made a fantastic save.
That proved large because, later in the extra session, Sanderson grabbed the puck in his own end and sent a pass off the boards that sprung a 2-on-1. Stutzle took the pass, skated into the Winnipeg end and sent a perfect feed across to Brady Tkachuk that the Ottawa captain blasted past Hellebuyck to win the game.
Hellebuyck got saddled with the loss, making 28 saves in defeat while Ullmark stopped 23 shots in victory.
The Jets still have not won back-to-back games since beating the Flames Nov. 15 and the Blue Jackets Nov. 18.
Winnipeg will now head out on a three-game road trip that begins in St. Louis on Wednesday. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB begins just after 5 p.m with the puck dropping just after 7 p.m.
