“We have to get our top guys going,” John Tortorella said after Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh.
While the Jackets didn’t win the game against Winnipeg Thursday, they found a way to answer Tortorella’s challenge by producing four goals, all from forwards, in a 5-4 loss to the Jets.
The Jackets got on the board first for the 50th time this season. Nick Foligno broke up a Jets’ pass, carried the puck through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone before firing a shot past Eric Comrie from the left circle to make it 1-0 6:58 into the first period.
But the Jets, who were outshot early by the Jackets, found a way to respond. Winnipeg stole the momentum off a four-minute power play where they scored with 20 seconds left on the man advantage and added two more scores to build a two-goal lead before Brandon Saad would answer back.
Saad tied up the game 3-3 with two skilled plays. His first goal of the night came 7:12 into the second when, after taking a pass off the boards from Oliver Bjorkstrand, he skated into the zone and across the crease to score. The second came five minutes later off a rebound off his own shot when the puck got behind Comrie and Saad tucked it in.
Once again the Jets surged. They produced two more goals in the third period to re-gain the lead, but the Jackets wouldn’t relent. 14 minutes into the final period, Boone Jenner put himself in front of the net to receive a pinpoint pass from Scott Hartnell at the goal line to narrow the Jets’ lead to one goal.
The Jackets couldn’t find a way to produce the tying score and lost their fifth game in a row.
“There’s guys in this room that it’s their job to generate offense,” Foligno said. “It was nice to see certain guys step up and get goals. Four goals is a lot this time of year. That’s the good part. The disappointing part is that you shouldn’t have to get six to win a game. That’s the situation we found ourselves in and it can’t happen.
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