The Winnipeg Jets were bound to lose again eventually.
More than two weeks after their first loss of the season, the Jets were clearly the second-best team on the ice in a 4-1 loss in Tampa Bay Thursday night, dropping their record to 15-2 and snapping their seven-game win streak.
The Lightning, who were playing their first game in a week, were the stronger team right out of the gate and opened the scoring after a nearly six-minute run of play without a whistle.
After Winnipeg turned the puck over at the Tampa Bay blueline, Nick Paul carried the puck up the ice and into the Jets’ end, patiently waiting for a streaking Jake Guentzel to emerge into the slot. He received a pass from Paul, then wired it past Eric Comrie to make it 1-0 at the 7:24 mark.
The Jets started to push back a bit as the period rolled along, earning a power play with just under a minute left in the frame but they didn’t manage to get a shot on goal.
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Tampa Bay carried a 10-7 edge in shots on goal into the second and quickly built on their lead.
After cycling the puck around the Winnipeg end, the Lightning got the puck to Darren Raddysh at the right point, who spotted Brandon Hagel cutting to the net. He got a perfect pass and got in close on Comrie before roofing it to make it 2-0 just 3:07 into the second.
Moments later, Dylan DeMelo took a hooking penalty and the Lightning, who had yet to score a power play goal on home ice this season, wasted little time making it 3-0 as Anthony Cirelli tipped a Victor Hedman point shot past Comrie at the 4:07 mark.
Less than three minutes later, the Jets got on the board thanks to a bit of a fluky goal. Colin Miller’s shot from the point glanced off the skate of Adam Lowry after he got upended near the crease and rose over the arm of Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it 3-1.
Winnipeg earned their second power play of the night less than two minutes later but for the second time in the game, the league’s top power play unit failed to register a shot on goal.
Shots on goal favoured Tampa Bay in the second period 13-6 and for the first 40 minutes, the Lightning had a 23-13 edge.
Winnipeg pushed in the third to try and get back into the game but couldn’t get another one past Vasilevskiy, failing on a pair of power plays in the final frame.
Comrie was pulled for an extra attacker with just over two minutes to go and it didn’t lead to much before Guentzel potted his second of the night into the empty net with 21 seconds to go.
Comrie turned aside 25 shots in his first loss of the season while Vasilevskiy made 23 stops for his 300th career victory.
Winnipeg will look to start a new win streak Saturday when they visit the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB starts at 4 p.m. with game action beginning just after 6 p.m.
