Winnipeg Jets early season surge fades as they drop nine of 13, routed 5-1 by bottom-dwelling Sabres

The Jets have gone from 9-3-0 to 13-12-0 after losing nine of their last 13 games after they dropped a 5-1 decision to the Sabres who are at the bottom of the standings in the Eastern Conference.

For those who would like to take a deeper dive into the advanced stats click here to see the results from the game via Natural Stat Trick.

Notable:

A poor pass by Vlad Namestnikov leads to a Dylan DeMelo penalty and the Jets get burnt on the subsequent power play which put them down 1-0 early. And seconds later poor structure gives the Sabres an odd man rush which put Winnipeg down 2-0 just 15 seconds after taking the lead. That’s not an ideal start by the visitors.

Jets avoided disaster after Gabriel Vilardi was upended without the puck anywhere close to him. He shook it off and was fine.

Freshly shaved Kyle Connor looks like he did when Winnipeg drafted him in 2015.

Jets playing “defence” was porous to say it politely.

Message sent by Jets head coach Scott Arniel to his team after a terrible 1st period down 3-0 as he put Thomas Milic in net to start the 2nd for his second NHL game.

Maybe that was the spark they needed as the Jets finally scored a goal and shocker it was the top line that gets it. Kyle Connor gets his 13th. Also it’s quite something to watch Josh Morrissey dance along the blueline.

Nino Niederreiter doesn’t get the puck deep and Luke Schenn thinks he’s about to be the sixth guy on the ice (he would have been the fifth) which all equals chaos and the end of the comeback as the Sabres made it 4-1 quickly after the Jets had scored.

Jets still bleeding chances including this one that is first stopped by Thomas Milic and then Cole Perfetti makes his best road hockey save.

“They’re not getting any, any offence from the second, third or fourth lines and that’s going to be a struggle to even make the playoffs if this continues.”

Hall of Famer Chris Pronger on what he is seeing (or not seeing) from the Jets.

It didn’t get better in the 3rd as the visitors continued to have just porous D.

There are a bunch of players on the Moose who would help this Jets team right now.

Watching Jets D is akin to watching a slow-motion train wreck….

According to Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press the team held a closed door, players only meeting after the loss.

In the end the Jets lose 5-1 and fall to 13-12-0 on the season. Despite this poor slide they remain just one point back of a wild card spot but this team is just not getting it done.

Multi Point Game:

None.

Highlights:

Player/Coach availability:

Illegal Curve Post-Game Show:

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The Jets are off tomorrow. Start your day with the Morning Papers which will go live at 7 AM CDT tomorrow on illegalcurve.com.