It wasn’t exactly how the Winnipeg Jets wanted to start their longest road trip of the season.
Despite having captain Adam Lowry in the lineup for the first time this season, the Jets failed to generate many scoring opportunities in a 3-0 loss to the Kings in Los Angeles Tuesday night, Winnipeg’s first road loss and L.A.’s first home win of the season.
The Jets thought they may have opened the scoring just over eight minutes into the game. A Josh Morrissey point shot was stopped by Darcy Kuemper before the Kings goalie accidentally knocked it into his own net.
Officials immediately waved off the goal, believing that Gabriel Vilardi had bumped Kuemper before the initial shot came through. After a media timeout, the Jets decided to challenge the call. Despite the fact that the contact was marginal at best, the call on the ice was confirmed, giving the Jets a penalty that was quickly negated when Anze Kopitar was called for high-sticking.
After what was otherwise a fairly uneventful first 18 minutes of play, the Kings got on the board first thanks to their top line.
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The play started when Mikey Anderson rimmed the puck down low to Joel Armia behind the Winnipeg net. He waited as Adrian Kempe circled the zone and got free of Mark Scheifele, cutting down the centre of the ice before taking a pass from Armia and knocking it home at the 17:08 mark. Kempe was wide open in front as Scheifele and Morrissey failed to get in his way.
Los Angeles took the 1-0 lead into the second while also enjoying a 7-5 edge in shots on goal.
Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the middle frame with L.A. outshooting the Jets 11-8 in the second. Each team had a failed power play in the period.
Winnipeg’s struggles with the man advantage continued in the third as they whiffed on two more looks before getting into some penalty trouble themselves just past the midway point.
Parker Ford took a penalty for shooting the puck over the glass and before his minor expired, Vladislav Namestnikov took a double-minor for high sticking.
Winnipeg nearly killed everything off but couldn’t quite get across the finish line before a perfect shot off the stick of Kevin Fiala beat Hellebuyck high with 46 seconds left in the double minor and exactly five minutes to go in the third.
The Jets pulled Hellebuyck with just under three minutes left to try and spark a comeback but Drew Doughty scored into the empty net with 54 seconds left to seal the deal.
Hellebuyck made 23 saves in defeat while Kuemper also turned aside 23 shots to earn the shutout.
Lowry played just over 14 minutes in his season debut, registering four hits, two blocked shots and one shot on goal, while getting destroyed in the faceoff dot, winning just one of 13 draws. The Jets as a team finished the night by winning just 37 per cent of the faceoffs.
Winnipeg continues their west-coast swing when they visit San Jose on Friday night.
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