Winnipeg Jets blow late lead, lose 3-2 in OT to Vegas

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Peggy

The Winnipeg Jets just can’t seem to beat the Golden Knights.

Vegas tied the game with less than two minutes to go in regulation before winning in overtime, a 3-2 decision that extends their regular-season win streak over the Jets to eight games.

Nikita Chibrikov kept up the torrid pace to start his NHL career, potting his third goal in as many career games at the 9:27 mark of the first.

Cole Perfetti carried the puck into the Vegas end off the rush, sending it to Vladislav Namestnikov on the right wing. He fired a low shot on goal that was kicked away by the pad of Adin Hill right to the stick of Chibrikov, who blasted it home to open the scoring.

It was one of just four shots the Jets got on goal in the opening 20 minutes as Winnipeg was under duress for much of the period. Connor Hellebuyck made sure the Jets held onto the 1-0 lead as he turned aside 12 shots in the frame.

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Just over two minutes into the second, Neal Pionk was called for hooking Pavel Dorofeyev but he may have saved a goal in the process as it prevented the Vegas winger from getting a stick on a rebound that could have been knocked into an open net. Winnipeg killed off the power play.

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The game stayed 1-0 as the period rolled along with neither teams getting much on goal through the first half of the frame: shots were 3-0 Vegas at the second media timeout while Winnipeg didn’t register a shot on goal until a Pionk wrist shot from the point with 6:59 left in the frame. The Jets finished the period with six shots to Vegas’ ten but the score remained 1-0.

Right at the end of the period, the Jets were called for sending the puck out of play from their own end, giving Vegas 1:52 of power play time to start the third but just 20 seconds into the period, Jack Eichel was called for hooking, nullifying the man advantage.

Hellebuyck could only hold down the fort for so long before Vegas finally got on the board. After the Jets whiffed on multiple chances to clear the puck, Brandon’s Keegan Kolesar fired a shot from the slot that beat Hellebuyck through a screen to make it 1-1 at the 4:34 mark of the third.

But Winnipeg wrestled the lead back with 9:05 to go. Mark Scheifele carried the puck into the Vegas end at the end of a shift and offered a fairly ineffective drop pass that Alex Iafallo had to work hard to get to before Vegas did. He knocked it back to the point where Dylan DeMelo sent a cross-ice pass to Josh Morrissey, who stepped in and blasted a shot that took the slightest of deflections off the stick of Zach Whitecloud and over the shoulder of Hill.

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With 2:40 to go, Gabriel Vilardi was called for tripping and just 13 seconds later, DeMelo was sent off for tripping as well, giving Vegas a fantastic opportunity to level the score and with 1:49 remaining, Victor Olofsson finished off a great passing play to tie the game.

Olofsson had a glorious look to add another with 30 seconds left but Haydn Fleury deflected his point-blank shot over the glass, sending the game to overtime.

Winnipeg had possession of the puck for the bulk of OT, though they managed just one shot on net before a poorly executed line change doomed them.

With the puck near the Winnipeg bench, Nino Niederreiter sent it back to Fleury in his own end to allow Niederreiter and Namestnikov to change. Ivan Barbashev put some pressure on Fleury, who sent it softly back toward the Winnipeg bench but Shea Theodore jumped up to snatch it away, creating a 2-on-1 with Barbashev who finished off a pass from Theodore to end the game.

Hellebuyck stopped 33 shots in the loss, Winnipeg’s first in five games this season that required extra time to resolve. Hill had to make just 18 saves for the win, Vegas’ 12th in their last 13 meetings with Winnipeg if you include their playoff battle in 2023.

The Jets will wrap up a four-game homestand Saturday evening against Montreal. The puck drops just after 6 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB starting at 4 p.m.