Arniel: Jets' loss to Utah 'most embarrassing game' of season

Jets head coach Scott Arniel let his team have it after Winnipeg fell 5-2 to the Utah Hockey Club on Monday night.

"That was embarrassing," he said. "That was, of all the games this year, that was the most embarrassing game for me, for our players. I take full credit, I've gotta be the one that has to hold these guys accountable and make sure we're better. That was embarrassing. We were, from top to bottom, we did a horseshit job."

The contest was knotted in a scoreless deadlock until the final minutes of the second period, when Utah began opening the floodgates with goals from Olli Maatta and Logan Cooley.

The club kept its foot on the gas with a pair of tallies before the midway mark of the final frame. Though Nino Niederreiter and Dylan DeMelo got the Jets on the board, Utah captain Clayton Keller iced the contest with an empty-netter.

The Jets mustered just six shots in the middle stanza and eight in the last 20 minutes. They also weren't credited with a single high-danger chance in the third period, according to Natural Stat Trick.

"We didn't win a whole lot of battles," Arniel said. "(Utah) got in on the forecheck, created turnovers. Even though it was 0-0 for a long stretch there, we still didn't get enough out of opportunities and didn't do enough to win a hockey game."

The loss stung the Jets in more ways than one, as captain Adam Lowry didn't play the last two periods. It's unclear what happened to him, but he did crash awkwardly into the boards in the first.

Arniel had no postgame update on Lowry's status.

Winnipeg was also without Gabriel Vilardi for much of the second period after he was shaken up by a hit. However, Nikolaj Ehlers wasn't interested in using the absences as an excuse.

"Don't take anything away from (Utah) - they're a really good team," the forward said. "They dominated us today, it's as simple as that. We're not winning the Stanley Cup with the way that we're playing today."

He added, "That is not Winnipeg Jets hockey, it's not the first time this year we've played this way. When you don't play the right way in this league ... you're not winning that game. You're letting our goalies down. We have the team in here to do something great. When we play the right way, we are dominant."

The Jets have lost their last two games in regulation and will face the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.