Losing offers lessons for Jets

Tin Nashville he Winnipeg Jets did not win Sunday night, but they experienced another first in a season full of them.

The Jets played into double overtime before finally succumbing to the Nashville Predators 5-4 at Bridgestone Arena. They came from behind three times just to get to the extra frame.

For a team full of young players who are just dipping their feet into the playoff pool for the first time, this one will go down as a life lesson under the heading “sink or swim.”

“It’s an important process for us to go through having lost an overtime game,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s something we had to deal with at some point.”

The Jets want to go deep into the playoffs, perhaps even win the Stanley Cup and do it again in the years to come. There will be games like Sunday’s epic battle along the way and now the Jets can at least say they’ve tested the turbulent waters of a lengthy NHL playoff overtime.

Despite a disappointing loss, there were so many real, positive take-aways for the Jets, not the least of which was their resolve. After giving up a goal 27 seconds into the game, the Jets tied it, took the lead, fell behind, tied it again, fell behind again and tied it again on Mark Scheifele’s second goal of the game with 1:05 left in the third period.

“We had a lot of pushback for a youthful team that we have,” veteran centre Matt Hendricks said. “We’ve got 21-year-olds saying the right things in the room and then going out and doing the best they can do on the ice. That’s all you can ask for.”

The Predators had the better chances in the extra periods and finally capitalized 5:37 into double overtime when Kevin Fiala scored on a two-on-one.

It was veteran defenceman Toby Enstrom who got caught pinching, so the Jets couldn’t blame their youthfulness for the mistake that led to the game-winning goal.

So what did they learn, first and foremost?

“That we’re never out of a hockey game,” Hendricks said. “We’ve gone through this lesson a few times during the regular season where we had to pull the goalie to get the extra attacker and we’ve come through.”

The greedy side of the Jets would have loved to come home with a delicious 2-0 lead in the series, especially when they haven’t lost there in 12 games.

But being tied 1-1 is a good thing for the same reasons. The Jets now have homeice advantage in what has become a best-of-five series and Bell MTS Place, along with the surrounding area, is sure to be a zoo once again.

Now, it should be pointed out that the last time the Jets lost a home game, it was a 6-5 decision to the Predators on Feb. 27, in which they gave up three goals in the final nine minutes to blow a lead.

That was more than two months ago and that game was a lesson, too. The Jets learned a lot from it.