Jets fall apart in outdoor Heritage Classic loss to youth-led Oilers

WINNIPEG — The current edition of the Winnipeg Jets failed to live up to the standard set by their elders at the Heritage Classic.

With no Teemu Selanne to score a last-minute clincher at Investors Group Field — as he did Saturday to give Winnipeg a win in the alumni game — the Jets fell 3-0 to the youth-led Edmonton Oilers.

“Certainly would have liked to give the fans one reason to get out of their seats today (but) we couldn’t do that for them,” said head coach Paul Maurice.

“Overall it was a spectacular weekend but the game was a tough one.”

The Jets created more chances in a fast first period and had the only power play but the game was still scoreless going into the second, when things fell apart.

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“We really liked our first period, the second period that’s a problem now, we’ve talked about it a few times,” said Jets captain Blake Wheeler.

“It seems that the teams we’ve been playing have regrouped after the first and learned to put some pressure with us.”

Winnipeg gave up two goals in less than two minutes, the first while they were on their second power play of the game. They surrendered a third later in the period.

“We tried to make plays through people in the neutral zone and they made us pay for it,” said centre Mark Scheifele.

The Jets have fallen behind before and managed to recover this season, coming back from a three-goal shortfall to beat Carolina in their season opener and last erasing a four-goal deficit to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs last Wednesday.

But there were no miracles Sunday. Instead, the Jets gave Edmonton a five-on-three in the third period and, while the Oilers couldn’t capitalize on their chances, it stalled Winnipeg’s offence for a crucial three minutes.

Winnipeg’s fickle weather was a little too perfect perhaps. With a temperature a shade above average at 10 C and a lot of sun, there was an almost two-hour delay to let the sun sink closer to the horizon, reducing glare and increasing player safety.

The Oilers hosted the first NHL outdoor game in 2003, when extreme cold temperatures were the concern.

In all, 19 regular-season NHL games have been played outdoors and another three are planned for the 2016-17 season, including Detroit at Toronto Jan. 2.

That delay didn’t help, said Wheeler, but he wasn’t using it as an excuse.

“I think it took both teams a little time to get their legs under them.”

No one had any serious complaints about the ice. Maurice said it wasn’t NHL ice but it was the best outdoor ice he’s seen.

Star rookie Patrik Laine, whose hat trick rescued the Jets from a loss to the Leafs, said pucks bounced a bit and the boards were different but both teams were facing the same conditions.

“I don’t know what went wrong in the second and third period. . . sometimes we played OK but OK is not enough in this league,” he said.

“You should play the same game as at the MTS Centre and we just couldn’t play our game.”

NOTES: Attendance was 33,240.

Scott Edmonds, The Canadian Press