The Winnipeg Jets dropped a 4-1decision to the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena. Cole Perfetti scored the Jets only goal and lost all three meetings with the Kings scoring just three times in the season series. Winnipeg (51-20-4) remains four points up on Dallas for first in the Central, but the Stars hold in a game in hand, the Jets will now head to Las Vegas to face the Golden Knights on Thursday.
MISTAKES COSTLY
The Kings are one of the best defensive teams in the NHL and part of their success is jumping on mistakes by their opponents. Their first three goals all came off errors by the Jets, starting with a giveaway by Winnipeg in their end that led to a goal by Trevor Moore at 8:28. Just over a minute later, David Gustafsson failed to get the puck in deep and that allowed the Kings to go back the other way with an odd man rush and Anze Kopitar finished off the play to make it 2-0. After Winnipeg had cut into the lead, Logan Stanley had his pocket picked by Andrei Kuzmenko and the Russian forward skated in and beat Connor Hellebuyck to restore the Kings two-goal lead.
"We turned the puck over three times and it ended up in the back of our net," said Scott Arniel.
"I liked a lot of what we did, our game plan against them. We did a good job of getting through the neutral zone. There were a few times we let them get out of the zone on some of the forecheck situations."
BIG KILL LEADS TO JETS GOAL
Winnipeg was down 2-0 and fought off a Kings power play that ended with a Morgan Barron blocked shot, Barron turned up the ice and spotted Cole Perfetti coming out of the penalty box. Perfetti grabbed the pass from Barron and skated in with Kyle Connor on a 2-on-1, Perfetti then wired a quick shot low blocker side past Darcy Kuemper for his second goal in as many games. It marked the first time the Jets have scored against the Kings this season at even strength.
