Losing streak reaches ten games as Winnipeg Jets fall in OT to Vegas 4-3

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the Winnipeg Jets find a new way to lose another hockey game.

The Jets let a two-goal lead slip away before falling in overtime to the Vegas Golden Knights Tuesday night, a 4-3 loss that extended Winnipeg’s losing streak to ten games.

Things looked a little dicey right off the bat as Jonathan Toews took a tripping penalty just 16 seconds into the game but Winnipeg got the kill, and a few minutes later, Toews factored in on the game’s first goal.

Gabriel Vilardi got the puck back to the point where Josh Morrissey was waiting for it. He fed Toews in the slot, who noticed that Cole Perfetti was uncovered and cutting to the front of the net. Toews passed it to Perfetti, who outwaited Carter Hart before sliding the puck into the back of the net at the 5:16 mark.

It was only Perfetti’s third goal of the season and first since Nov. 29.

There was a concerning moment with just under seven minutes left in the period when Haydn Fleury went hard into the boards. He was on his back foot near the faceoff dot in his own end and passed the puck up the ice as Keegan Kolesar shoved him at full speed. The impact knocked Fleury off his feet and he landed on his back before sliding hard into the boards, his head and upper back taking all the impact with the boards.

The whistle blew right away as medical personnel swarmed Fleury, being careful as they strapped him to a backboard and put him on a stretcher. After several minutes, he was wheeled across the ice as fans gave him an ovation and players tapped their sticks.

He was then taken to the ambulance in the bowels of Canada Life Centre and transported to hospital, with the team confirming shortly thereafter that Fleury was “fully alert and moving his extremities upon departure.”

This was Fleury’s first action since Dec. 19 and only his second game since Remembrance Day as he had been dealing with a concussion.

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During the pause in action, Adam Lowry talked to Kolesar about dropping the gloves and off the ensuing faceoff, the two squared off with the Jets’ captain earning the takedown, much to the home crowd’s delight.

The Jets carried the 1-0 lead into the second period, though they were outshot 6-5 in the opening 20 minutes.

The second got off to a sluggish start, with neither side registering a shot on goal before Mark Stone took a slashing penalty 5:31 into the period.

Winnipeg wasn’t able to generate much with the man advantage, though a scramble in front of Hart with seconds remaining led to the puck trickling just wide of the net.

The Jets doubled their lead at the 12:04 mark of the frame thanks to perhaps the most unlikely scoring option in the lineup (outside of Connor Hellebuyck).

After a battle for the puck in the Vegas end, it trickled back to the point where Luke Schenn, playing in his 1,100th game, collected it. He paused for a moment before snapping a wrist shot on net that somehow eluded traffic and Hart, beating the keeper top corner for his first in 43 games as a Jet.

It was just his 45th career goal in 1,100 games and his first since Oct. 19, 2024 as a member of the Predators.

Vegas got their second power play look of the evening with 1:03 to go in the period when Dylan Samberg was called for high-sticking and it didn’t take long for the Golden Knights to cash in.

A shot on goal careened off of the skates of Schenn and slid right to Stone at the side of the net. The Winnipegger slid it home for his 13th of the season just 12 seconds after the power play began, making this the fifth straight game in which Stone has scored.

Vegas outshot the Jets 8-4 in the second for a two-period advantage of 14-9, but Winnipeg still held a 2-1 lead where it mattered after 40 minutes.

But just over eight minutes into the third, the Golden Knights drew level.

Dylan DeMelo had a chance to play the puck just inside his own blueline but got spun around before Kolesar got to the puck and took it into the corner. Tomas Hertl picked it up there and found Noah Hanifin by the faceoff dot for a one-timer that hit Hellebuyck in the mask.

The rebound came back to Hanifin and he sent a pass across to Brett Howden in front that the Oakbank native deposited into the net to tie the game at the 8:13 mark.

Winnipeg finally registered their first shot on goal in the period with 9:59 to go, and with just over five minutes remaining, they regained the lead thanks to their top sniper.

After Golden Knights made a bit of a mess of a line change, Kyle Connor carried the puck into the Vegas end before missing the net badly from the slot. But Vilardi tracked down the loose puck along the boards and as Connor circled back to the slot, Vilardi gave him the puck and Connor made no mistake, whipping a shot past Hart for his 20th of the season.

But the lead didn’t last long.

Only 59 seconds after Connor’s goal, Vegas struck back as Reilly Smith knocked home a rebound off a Brandon Saad shot.

Neither team found the back of the net again before the end of the third, which figured to favour the Jets as Vegas entered the night with a 4-12 record in games decided in overtime or a shootout this season.

After a slow start to OT, the Jets came close a couple times to ending the game with Dylan Samberg having the best chance, whiffing a shot wide from in close after Toews was denied from the slot.

With 50.4 seconds left, Samberg was sent to the box for tripping and Winnipeg almost got through it but with 12.8 seconds on the clock, Mitch Marner rocketed a one-timer from the point that Hertl tipped past Hellebuyck to end the game, prompting the reigning Hart Trophy winner to smash his stick in half on the goalpost.

The loss matches the longest losing skid franchise history, if you include the Atlanta days, as the Thrashers had a ten-game skid during their inaugural season.

The original Jets also had a pair of ten game losing streaks in 1980 and 1994.

Winnipeg will get another chance to snap the skid when they host Edmonton Thursday night.