Jets Fall to Knights 3-2 in Overtime

It seems as though the Winnipeg Jets used up all their goals on Tuesday.

Coming off a heavily lopsided 8-1 victory over the Boston Bruins, the Jets managed just two goals on Thursday night, coming up just short in a 3-2 overtime loss to the visiting Vegas Golden Knights.

Ivan Barbashev scored with 1:13 left in overtime as the Golden Knights continued their dominance of the Jets in a come-from-behind effort on Thursday.

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Nikita Chibrikov continued his offensive brilliance with his third goal in three NHL games, while Josh Morrissey got Winnipeg’s other goal on the night. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck turned aside 33 of the 36 pucks he faced, but failed to earn his league-leading 19th win of the season.

It was Chibrikov who opened the scoring midway through the first period, as he picked up a rebound off the pad of Adin Hill. Cole Perfetti got the puck to Vlad Namestnikov, who fired it perfectly low, off the far pad, to which the puck bounced right to Chibrikov who got his second goal in as many periods.

Other than the lone goal, the opening frame belonged to Vegas, which held a 12-4 shot advantage through 20 minutes. Hellebuyck bailed his mates out on more than one occasion.

There wasn’t much for excitement in the second period, as it took until the 13-minute mark for Winnipeg to even get a single shot on net.

Mind you, Vegas wasn’t much better, as the Knights held a 3-2 shot advantage in the middle stanza through the 15-minute mark. Both teams managed to wake up a tad in the final few minutes, but neither were able to find the twine.

Winnipeg remained ahead 1-0, while trailing 22-10 on the shot chart through 40 minutes of play.

It took four-and-a-half minutes of third period action for the Golden Knights to tie the game. A bad pass from Logan Stanley handcuffed Kyle Connor, and local Winnipeg product Keegan Kolesar made him pay.

The former Winnipeg Thrashers AAA star waited for a screen to form before firing his seventh of the season through the traffic and into the net past Hellebuyck.

But the tie game only lasted six minutes.

A strong Mark Scheifele rush up-ice led to a quick offensive zone cycle between Alex Iafallo and Dylan DeMelo, who got the puck across ice to his partner Morrissey.

The Team Canada defender hammered home his third of the season on a perfectly-place slap shot. The goal was one of the prettiest of his career, as Morrissey managed to squeeze the puck into the tiniest of openings above Hill’s shoulder and below the crossbar.

But Gabe Vilardi was called for tripping in the offensive zone with 2:40 to go. Then, just 13 seconds into the Vilardi minor, DeMelo was given a tripping call of his own, making it a near two full minutes of five-on-three action.

Vegas put on a clinic, with Victor Olofsson putting the finishing touches on a tic-tac-toe passing play. The goal came with 1:22 remaining on the DeMelo penalty, giving the visitors another extended man advantage.

Winnipeg managed to kill off the final few seconds of the period, escaping regulation with a 2-2 draw, but trailed on the shot chart 37-19.

After dominating the first half of the overtime period, Winnipeg fell hostage to a poor line change, with Vegas cashing in on an Ivan Barbashev winner with just 1:13 remaining. He got he puck from Shea Theodore and put it past Hellebuyck, sending the home town fans home with the familiar bitter taste of defeat on their lips.

Hellebuyck finished the night with 33 stops on the 36 shots he faced, while Hill turned aside 18 of the 20 pucks directed his way.

Next up for Winnipeg is the final test of the four-game homestand, as Patrik Laine and the Montreal Canadiens make their lone visit to Canada Life Centre on Saturday for a 6:00 PM Hockey Night in Canada prime time affair.