Winnipeg’s second win streak since the beginning of the season was snapped when the Jets took on the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Thursday, November 14th, taking a 4-1 loss. This had been the Jets’ second loss in 17 games, previously becoming the fastest team to reach 15 wins when they defeated the New York Rangers 6-3 on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. Jake Guentzel scored twice for the Lightning, and Adam Lowry scored the lone goal for Winnipeg. Andrei Vasilevskiy has become the fastest goaltender in NHL history to reach 300 wins. He hit this milestone in 490 games, breaking the record set by Jacques Plante (521 games). The Jets take on the Florida Panthers next, and the Lightning will be hosting the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
Winnipeg Jets Lineup:
Connor – Scheifele – Vilardi
Perfetti – Namestnikov – Ehlers
Niederreiter – Lowry – Appleton
Barron – Kupari – Iafallo
Morrissey – DeMelo
Samberg – Pionk
Fleury – Miller
Comrie
Hellebuyck
Tampa Bay Lightning Lineup:
Hagel – Cirelli – Kucherov
Guentzel – Paul
Goncalves – Geekie – Chaffee
Girgensons – Glendening – Eyssimont
Hedman – Moser
McDonagh – Cernak
Lilleberg – Perbix
Raddysh
Vasilevskiy
Johansson
Opening the scoring at 12:36 of the first period to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead, Jake Guentzel put in his sixth of the season when he scored from the top of the slot. Ryan McDonagh passed the puck to Nick Paul, who skated up, looking as if he was going to attempt to score until he sent a backhanded pass to Gunetzel.
Brandon Hagel extended the lead to 2-0 early into the middle frame when Emil Lillberg took a pass from Hagel, sending it to Darren Raddysh… Hagel then took a feed from Raddysh at the left hash marks, beating Eric Comrie to the far post. Picking up his 100th NHL career goal when he made it a 3-0 lead for Tampa Bay – Anthony Cirelli struck on the power play when he redirected Victor Hedman’s shot with 15:53 remaining in the second. Adam Lowry got in the one and only Winnipeg goal at 13:06 to cut it to 3-1 when Colin Miller’s shot deflected off both Victor Hedman and Lowry before getting past Andrei Vasilevskiy.
With 21 seconds remaining in regulation, Jake Guentzel grabbed his second of the night when he struck Winnipeg’s empty net for a 4-1 final.
Adam Lowry on the loss, the Lightning, and moving on to the next: “I think there were parts of our game that we liked, and there were certain times that we were happy with how we were playing with the pressure or with the chances that we were creating. Sometimes you just have to be patient when the team’s going to sit back a little and kind of force you – they’ve got some really good sticks back there… A little bit of stubbornness on our part,” – “I think they did a good job of getting into their game quicker than we did, and kind of forcing us into some untimely mistakes and uncharacteristic turnovers by our group. I think they played a real solid game… Going into Florida now, we know how we look when we’re playing at our best, and certain things we need to do differently stylistically to be successful. We’ll go over the video tomorrow, have a good practice, and just get right back at it.”
Notes:
– The Tampa Bay Lightning were 0-3-1 in their previous four games.
– Andrei Vasilevskiy made a total of 24 saves for Tampa Bay.
– If the Jets would’ve won this game, they could have been the fastest team in NHL history to get 16 wins in a season (17 games).
– Eric Comrie made a total of 25 saves for Winnipeg.
– The Jets have lost their first game on the road this season (7-1-0).