Jets Collapse Late, Fall 3-1 to Oilers

On Thursday evening, the Winnipeg Jets welcomed Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers to Canada Life Centre for a Western Conference tilt as a part of the team's current four-game homestand.

With 'the other Connor' - Bedard - also set to visit Winnipeg on Saturday, Thursday's game was the first of two-straight to feature generational talents for the season-high 13,611 fans gathered in downtown Winnipeg. 

The Winnipeg Jets fell to 12-8-2 on the year and dropped their third-straight game with Leon Draisaitl scoring the winner with 2:13 to go. 

“Obviously, you never want to give up a late lead and give up that extra point late in the game," defenceman Josh Morrissey said postgame. 

"It’s a disappointing one for us. We did a lot of good things to try to at least earn a point. But it’s frustrating.”

Riding Cole Perfetti's first period tally for nearly the entire game, Winnipeg gave up a late game-tying strike to Darnell Nurse, before allowing a Draisaitl power play marker as the game wore on.

The Oilers took charge in the opening period, but it was Winnipeg that came out ahead through 20 minutes. McDavid and company had a number of close calls near the Jets’ net, but Connor Hellebuyck stood his ground, turning aside all 12 shots in the frame.

With Brett Kulak in the box for holding the stick, Cole Perfetti redirected his eighth of the season past Stuart Skinner, tipping home Mark Scheifele’s shot-pass just 42 seconds into the late-period man advantage. 

"Obviously, it was nice to get a goal but what we’d go? 1-for-3? So still not in a game like that we need to capitalize on more," Perfetti said of his team's power play. 

"We need to get the puck in the net again, we had some good looks, some good chances. Getting one was obviously good but we want to, it’s not possible to score every single time. But that’s the kind of mindset we want to have. Every time we go out there our mindset should be put the puck in the back of the net. You know it was good to get one but still a work in progress."

The first period came to a close with Winnipeg up 1-0.

Hellebuyck was the story of the second, as he turned aside a nifty Mattias Janmark shorthanded breakaway chance midway through the frame. 

"I feel it's always like that, especially with Helle, obviously an incredible goaltender to go against," Skinner said of his counterpart. "He played a heck of a game, if it wasn't for him in the first period it could've gotten out of hand there."

After exchanging power play opportunities in the first period, the Jets were given two chances on the man advantage in the middle stanza, but were unable to double their lead. Winnipeg maintained its 1-0 lead through 40 minutes, while narrowly trailing on the shot chart as the third period began. 

Neither team really took much control in the third, with the Oilers getting hot for stretches, before the Jets jumped back on the trigger. But it was the Oilers that got the final laugh.

Darnell Nurse finally got Edmonton on the board, getting lucky on a long-range wrist shot that fooled Hellebuyck with 6:49 to play, tying the game for the Oilers. 

Then it was Draisaitl, who hammered home a power play one-timer, giving Edmonton the lead with just 2:13 to go as Gabe Vilardi looked on from the penalty box.

With Vilardi sitting for 1:11 for holding the stick, Evan Bouchard got the puck to McDavid, who easily found his mate down on the half-wall. Draisaitl scored his 10th of the year in dramatic fashion, giving the Oilers the late-game victory. 

Ryan McLeod sealed the deal with an empty-net strike with 20 seconds remaining. 

Hellebuyck turned aside 36 of the 38 shots he faced in the game, while Skinner made 25 stops on the 26 pucks the Jets fired his way.

Vlad Namestnikov left the game with what head coach Rick Bowness is calling a lower-body injury. 

Next up for Winnipeg is a 2:00 PM tilt with the Chicago Blackhawks. The matinee affair can be viewed live on TSN.