The Winnipeg Jets drop the final road game of the season 5-3 at Utah – Winnipeg

With the Winnipeg Jets all but eliminated from playoff contention, they’re at the point where losing is really helpful.

Any more wins this season could jeopardize their chances of landing a higher draft pick, and while it wasn’t their intention to lose Tuesday night in Utah, they did, dropping a 5-3 decision to the Mammoths in their final road game of the season.

Mamuthi scored twice in a span of just 26 seconds in the third period to take a three-goal lead. The Jets then scored two quick goals to pull within one, but they could get no closer as Utah added an empty netter for the Jets’ third straight loss.

Nick Schmaltz scored twice for Utah in the win.

Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Isak Rosén all scored for the Jets. Gabriel Vilardi had a pair of assists.

Eric Comrie was extremely busy in the first 40 minutes with the shots 29-12 in favor of Utah after two periods. The result could have been much worse if not for a number of big saves in the first two periods.

“He stayed on his head the whole game,” Rosén told 680 CJOB. “We have to help him.”

The Mammoth swept the season with three games. The Jets will finish the season with a 6-3 record in the second half of back-to-back games.

Ville Heinola appeared in his first game in roughly six weeks after he replaced Haydn Fleury.

With the playoffs out of reach, it would have been really easy for the Jets to pile it up during the third quarter, trailing by three goals, but it was their best period of the game, outscoring the opposition 12-7 to make it look respectable.

“I think we got more in our game,” said Rosén. “When we got a goal back, I think they were on their heels a little bit and yeah, we kept going. Yeah, we definitely found our game in the third, but it’s hard not to find our game earlier than that.”

Making his first start since March 22, Comrie was tested early and often by the Mammoth. The Jets’ backup made 13 saves in the first 20 minutes, some of them of the high-quality variety.

But Utah managed to pull one back at the 8:05 mark of the period. After the Mammoth won a draw at center ice, Nate Schmidt got the puck in his end and held it for a few seconds before driving to the Winnipeg blue line where Logan Cooley was wide open behind Scheifele.

Cooley took the pass and skated over Comrie as Scheifele tried to catch up, but he was unable to reach as Cooley made a move and slipped a backhand shot through Comrie’s five-hole to open the scoring.

Each team failed on a power play in the first as Utah held a 13-6 advantage in shots on goal.

Utah continued to turn up the pressure in the second, dominating play for most of the period.

They extended their lead at the 4:54 mark on the power play when Schmaltz slammed home a juicy rebound into an open net for his 32nd of the season.

The Mammoth held Comrie to 15 shots in the period, thanks in part to a trio of power-play opportunities, but Comrie stood tall, allowing his team to claw their way back into the game.

After Utah committed its first penalty of the period with just under four minutes remaining, the Jets struggled to get anything going with the man advantage, but in transition they were able to score.

As he crossed Utah’s blue line at mid-ice, Connor flicked the puck to Vilard’s right. Vilardi held onto the ball until he laid it back to an onrushing Connor, who headed the pass to Karel Vejmelka before knocking the rebound into the net for his 39th goal of the season.

The Jets came close to tying the game in the final minutes of the period when Brayden Yager got free on a 2-on-1, but his shot was denied by Vejmelka.

Mammoth held a massive 29-12 advantage in shots on goal through 40 minutes.

Utah restored its two-goal lead just over seven minutes into the third on another power play. The mammoth snapped the ball around the Winnipeg zone, each player getting a touch as the Jets defenders chased the play before Schmaltz buried his second of the night.

Just 26 seconds later, Utah made it 4-1.

Two mammoths came together in the corner to win a ball battle, freeing the ball for JJ Peterka, who took it to the front of the net and slid it past Comrie.

Scheifele got one back for the Jets with 7:24 to go when he took advantage of Mackenzie Weegar’s drop in his own end, taking the ball alone and beating Vejmelka for his 36th of the season.

Moments later, Dylan DeMelo was intercepted by a high stick to give the Jets a power play look and the second unit took advantage to make it a one-goal game.

After a scramble from the offensive zone faceoff, the puck came back to Rosén, who took a handoff from the slot that beat Vejmelka for his third time as a Winnipeg Jet.

The Jets weren’t able to pull Comrie for an extra attacker with a minute left, but it wasn’t after Alex Kerfoot scored on an empty net with 23 seconds left.

The final shots on goal in the game were 36-24 in favor of the Mammoths as Comrie suffered his first loss since New Year’s Day in Toronto, ending his six-start winning streak.

The loss ensures the Jets will enter their final regular-season game against San Jose with the seventh-best odds to pick first overall at 6.5 percent.

This game will take place Thursday night in Winnipeg on the final night of the NHL regular season. The ball will drop just after 7pm with pre-game coverage on 680 CJOB starting around 5.15pm

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