You can’t replace the talent the Jets lost with injuries to both Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine, but there’s still enough talent left on the Jets to compete with a very solid Flames team.

However, for the second time in three games, the Jets effort was lackluster at best, and the Jets top players--that remain in the lineup--have simply been outworked by the Flames top players.

On Tuesday the Flames got goals from Elias Lindholm, Mikael Backlund, Sean Monahan, Matthew Tkachuk, Milan Lucic and Johnny Gaudreau. Take Lucic out of the equation and you’ll find the Flames five goal scorers in Game 3 were the team’s top five point scorers in the regular season.

While Nikolaj Ehlers—two goals in three games—has been good for the Jets, leading scorer Kyle Connor and captain Blake Wheeler have just one point each. Neither has found the back of the net to date in the playoffs.

"There’s no question that Kyle and I carry the offensive burden and it’s a part of our job to produce, especially in these situations,” Wheeler said following the loss in Game 3. “There’s no sidestepping that, that’s what we’re out here to do.”

In Game 3, the Flames second line of Tkachuk, Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane dominated the Jets to the tune of a 66.67% Corsi For percentage, a 60.87% Shots For percentage and a Scoring Chances For percentage of 75% five-on-five.

Both Tkachuk and Backlund goals came five-on-five.

Where the Jets have the biggest advantage over the Flames is in net, but Vezina finalist Connor Hellebuyck, has struggled in the series, allowing 10 goals on 94 shots for a 3.38 goals-against average and a .894 save percentage.

The injury bug once again struck the Jets on Tuesday as Mathieu Perreault left the game in the second period after being on the wrong end of a big hit from Flames’ forward Sam Bennett. He did not return to the game.

Tucker Poolman also left the game in the second period after blocking a shot with his face. He did manage to return to the game with a full cage, but the massive swelling could be seen through the cage.

“Tucker was really lucky he didn't lose any teeth. He just has some sutures there," said head coach Paul Maurice. "He's got a huge welt on the side of his face. That's a great thing for your hockey team when he walks back into the locker room and we were all really concerned after he took that puck."

Injuries aside, the biggest issue for the Jets continues to be special teams. The Flames added three more power play tallies to their bank in Game 3, improving to 5-for-14 in the series. The Jets have converted just twice in 15 tries on the man advantage, allowing a shorthanded goal in the process.

In the series, Hellebuyck has a .783 save percentage and a 14.22 goals-against average while shorthanded.

In 23:30 of shorthanded time on ice in the series, the Jets have allowed 34 shot attempts with 23 registering as a shot on goal. In the process, they have allowed eight High Danger Scoring Chances, with the Flames scoring on four of those.

"If you’re giving up three [goals] on your PK, you’re not winning those games. There would not be a lot of teams that give up three and win the hockey game,” said Maurice. “That’s priority one.”

It was the mentality after Game 1 and it was once again the mentality after Game 3. The Jets believe they’ve been good enough five-on-five. And if they can clean things up on special teams, they’ll get themselves back into the series.

Of the 24 teams playing in the NHL’s playoff format, the Jets are allowing 29.53 shots per 60 minutes, eighth fewest among teams. Their expected goals allowed per 60 minutes of 1.88 ranks 10th among playoff teams.

Both stats aren’t too shabby. Flip the script to the offensive side of things and you’ll see their mindset is not too far off. While they’re doing a solid job of holding things down defensively five-on-five, a slight uptick in offensive production five-on-five is an immediate need.

Offensively, the Jets are averaging 29.06 shots per 60 minutes, 19th among playoff teams, and their Expected Goals For percentage of 1.87 per 60 minutes ranks 16th.

"I think still 5-on-5 it’s right there. We made just a couple of mistakes that led to easy goals for them,” said Wheeler. “But their power play has been good, there’s no doubt about that so I think for us, especially in the situation that we’re in, we’ve got to be disciplined, we’ve got to stay out of the box.”

The Jets will take Wednesday to pick up the pieces and try to put the puzzle back together as they look to extend their season with a victory in Game 4 on Thursday.

More execution five-on-five, a special teams turnaround and Hellebuyck looking more like his regular season version are all needed for the Jets in Game 4.

"I’ve got to use this and I plan on using this. This was an upset for me,” Hellebuyck said of the Game 3 loss. “I don’t see it being easy for them at all for the rest of the series. So they better scratch and claw for everything that they get.”

The Jets lineup will likely look much different than it did when the puck dropped in Game 1, but Paul Maurice expects his team will ready for the challenge ahead.

"We’re not coming to the rink for Game 4 with a feeling that we’ve let something slip away. From the first five minutes of that game (Game 1) we’ve been fighting and trying,” said Maurice.

“It hasn’t been easy for us, we’re not moving the puck the way we’d like to, for sure. But if there’s one thing I have confidence in, I think the compete is going to be as good as we’ve got. What they leave on the ice in Game 4 will be all they have.”

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