The night after being eliminated from playoff contention, the Winnipeg Jets blew a two-goal lead and wasted a brilliant 42-save performance by Eric Comrie in a 4-2 loss in Carolina on Thursday night.
In Winnipeg’s final road game of the season, the Hurricanes scored four unanswered goals to cap off a winless four-game Eastern Conference road swing for the Jets.
The Jets got out to an early two-goal lead as Kyle Connor tied Patrik Laine’s Jets 2.0 record for goals in a season with his 44th. Pierre-Luc Dubois would follow it up with his 27th of the campaign to tie his career-best, but it was all downhill after that.
With the game tied at two goals apiece midway through the third period, the Hurricanes scored a controversial goal to take the lead for good. Comrie was hit in the head with the original shot and as his mask was falling off, Canes forward and Winnipegger Seth Jarvis appeared to make contact with Comrie before tapping in the go-ahead goal. The Jets challenged for goalie interference but the goal counted following the review.
Comrie agreed with the ruling.
“One timer hits me in the mask, mask comes off,” said Comrie. “But I think it should have been a goal. I mean, the puck was continuing behind me, play continued. It didn’t put me in any danger. The puck was right there. He tapped it in back door. I mean, it wasn’t like I was in any danger.”
According to the NHL rule book, “When a goalie has lost his helmet and his team has control of the puck, the play shall be stopped immediately to allow the goalkeeper the opportunity to regain his helmet. When the opposing team has control of the puck, play shall only be stopped if there is no immediate and impending scoring opportunity.”
Since the puck went in the net only seconds after his mask hit the ice, it appears the right call was made by the officials.
“I think he might have maybe hit me a little bit on the way down,” said Comrie. “But I don’t think he meant to do that. It was just reactionary to play a puck. The puck’s right there so he’s going to continue to play it.
“I mean, I understand why we challenge it. It’s a big goal in that situation, so we did the right thing challenging it, but I also think that they made the right call in calling it a goal.”
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Jets defenceman Nate Schmidt was trying to tie up Jarvis when the game-winning goal was scored.
“It happens so quickly,” said Schmidt. “Just got to do a better job of getting his stick. When it kinda falls backwards, I don’t know what it hits when I turn. It’s one of those key points in the game you wish you had back.”
The Jets will finish the campaign with an away record of 16-17-8 as they end the season below the .500 mark on the road for the first time in the last seven seasons.
It was the Jets first loss this season in regulation when leading after two periods.
The Hurricanes outshot the Jets 46-22 on the night, including 12-5 in the final period.
“I still think we had our chances,” said interim head coach Dave Lowry. “But this is one of the top teams, one of the elite teams in the league. And they’re very good at home. But they capitalized on a couple of their chances, and I really thought that the key turning point was Sanny (Zach Sanford) coming down in the second period and hitting the post. If we could have stretched that lead, then we’d probably have a different outcome.”
After Carolina’s stingy penalty kill nullified an early Winnipeg opportunity, the Jets got a second power play chance in the first but a Paul Stastny penalty put the teams at 4-on-4.
That’s when Connor struck first blood for the Jets. The speedy winger carried the puck into the Hurricanes zone before losing it in a scramble in front of the net. But Dubois found it, circled behind the net and fed a perfect pass to Connor who deposited the puck into a yawning cage for his 44th of the season.
Carolina would amp up the pressure in the latter half of the period, thanks in large part to a pair of power plays but Comrie, making his second straight start in goal, stood his ground, stopping all 17 shots he faced in the first.
Comrie got some additional run support with 65 seconds left in the first when Dubois beat Antti Raanta with a slick wrist shot through a screen. It was Dubois’ 27th goal of the season, matching his career high set four years ago in Columbus.
It became increasingly clear as the second period went along that Comrie’s play was by far the lead story of the night. Carolina dominated play throughout the middle frame but Comrie made save after save, many of them coming on high-quality opportunities.
Whether it was a quick-reaction pad save on Tony DeAngelo or a full-split denial of Max Domi in close, Comrie stole the show to keep the Jets in front.
Winnipeg had a great chance to counter with just under four minutes to go in the period but Zach Sanford hit the post on an odd-man rush. The forward has yet to score since he was acquired at the trade deadline.
Comrie’s shutout bid was finally broken on Carolina’s 33rd shot of the night. With the Hurricanes on a 4-on-3 power play with less than 30 seconds left in the second, Teuvo Teravainen beat Comrie with a wrister for his 20th of the season.
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But the Jets still led had the lead, and entered the game with a 25-0-1 record when leading after two.
Just over four minutes into the third, however, the lead disappeared. After Andrei Svechnikov gained the zone with a strong net drive, the puck made its way around to Jaccob Slavin, who was able to slide it into the net for the equalizer.
Four minutes later, the Hurricanes would grab the lead for the first time. A point shot from Brendan Smith jarred Comrie’s helmet loose but before the whistle was blown, the puck fell right to the stick of Jarvis in front of the net.
The Winnipegger banged home the rebound to put Carolina ahead. Winnipeg challenged the play for goaltender interference but the call on the ice stood.
A final push by the Jets was fruitless as Jordan Staal iced the game with an empty netter in the final minute.
Comrie kept his team in the game with 42 saves while Raanta only had to turn aside 20 shots for the win.
It was a disastrous final road trip of the season for Winnipeg, losing all four games, all to playoff teams, by a combined margin of 20-7.
The Jets begin a final four-game homestand to close out the season Sunday against Colorado. Pregame show begin on 680 CJOB at 4 p.m. with the puck dropping shortly after 6 p.m.
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