With the Winnipeg Jets having been eliminated from playoff contention, they’re at the point where losing is helpful.

Any more wins this season could jeopardize their odds of getting a higher draft pick, and while it was not their intention to lose Tuesday night in Utah, they did, dropping a 5-3 decision to the Mammoth in their final road game of the season.

Making his first start since Mar. 22, Eric Comrie was tested early and often by the Mammoth. The Jets’ backup made 13 saves in the opening 20 minutes, several of them of the high-quality variety.

But Utah did manage to get one past him at the 8:05 mark of the period. After the Mammoth won a centre ice draw, Nate Schmidt got the puck in his own end and held it for a few seconds before snapping a stretch pass to the Winnipeg blue line where Logan Cooley had gotten open behind Mark Scheifele.

Cooley took the pass and skated in on Comrie as Scheifele tried to catch up but he was unable to as Cooley made a move and slid a backhand shot through Comrie’s five-hole to open the scoring.

Each team failed on a power play in the first as Utah held a 13-6 edge in shots on goal.

Utah continued to pour on the pressure in the second, dominating play for most of the period.

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They extended their lead at the 4:54 mark on a power play when Nick Schmaltz banged home a juicy rebound into an open net for his 32nd of the season.

The Mammoth peppered Comrie to the tune of 15 shots in the period, thanks in part to a trio of power play opportunities, but Comrie stood tall, allowing his team to get back into the game.

After Utah took their first penalty of the period with just under four minutes left, the Jets struggled to get anything set up with the man advantage but in transition they were able to strike.

As he crossed the Utah blue line in the middle of the ice, Kyle Connor passed the puck to his right to Gabriel Vilardi. Vilardi held the puck until sending it back to a hard-driving Connor, who steered the pass into the pad of Karel Vejmelka before knocking the rebound into the net for his 39th goal of the season.

The Jets came close to tying the game shorthanded in the final minutes of the period when Brayden Yager got free on a 2-on-1 but his shot was denied by Vejmelka.

The Mammoth held a massive 29-12 edge in shots on goal through 40 minutes.

Utah restored their two-goal lead just over seven minutes into the third on another power play. The Mammoth snapped the puck around the Winnipeg zone, every player getting a touch of the puck as the Jets defenders chased the play before Schmaltz buried his second of the night.

Just 26 seconds later, Utah made it 4-1.

Two Mammoth converged in the corner to win a puck battle, freeing the puck for J.J. Paterka who took it to the front of the net and slid it through Comrie.

Scheifele got one back for the Jets with 7:24 to go when he took advantage of Mackenzie Weegar falling in his own end, taking the puck in alone and beating Vejmelka for his 36th of the season.

Moments later, Dylan DeMelo was clipped by a high stick to give the Jets a power play look and the second unit took advantage to make it a one-goal game.

After a scramble off an offensive-zone faceoff, the puck came back to Isak Rosén who ripped a wrister from the slot that beat Vejmelka for his third as a Winnipeg Jet.

The Jets weren’t able to pull Comrie for an extra attacker until there was one minute to go but it was for not as Alex Kerfoot scored into the empty net with 23 seconds remaining.

Final shots on goal in the game were 36-24 in favour of the Mammoth as Comrie suffered his first defeat since New Year’s Day in Toronto, ending his six-start win streak.

The loss ensures that the Jets will enter their final game of the regular season with the seventh-best odds of picking first overall at 6.5 per cent.

That game will go Thursday evening in Winnipeg on the final night of the NHL regular season. The puck will drop just after 7 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB starting around 5:15 p.m.