2 weeks Ago By Mike McIntyre
It felt like a playoff game, given the quality of competition and the high hockey stakes. It sounded like a playoff game, with a sold-out crowd at Canada Life Centre in full-throated roar even before the puck was dropped. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * It felt like a playoff game, given the quality of competition and the high hockey stakes.
It sounded like a playoff game, with a sold-out crowd at Canada Life Centre in full-throated roar even before the puck was dropped. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? It felt like a playoff game, given the quality of competition and the high hockey stakes. It sounded like a playoff game, with a sold-out crowd at Canada Life Centre in full-throated roar even before the puck was dropped.
By the time the final buzzer sounded Friday night, it sure looked like the type of game the Winnipeg Jets hope becomes their standard when the playoffs begin next month. An impressive 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars included all the ingredients they will need: Great goaltending, solid special teams, aggressive forechecking, attention to defensive detail, depth scoring, plenty of physicality and the best players leading the way. John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS Josh Morrissey (left), Brandon Tanev and Dylan DeMelo celebrate Morgan Barron’s third-period goal.
“I thought we dictated the pace right from the hop,” said Jets forward Kyle Connor, who led the way with two goals and an assist. “Played with a lot of pace, played within our structure, defended first.” Other highlights included Mark Schiefele with a hat trick of helpers and Connor Hellebuyck stopping 24 shots as the Jets improved to 46-17-4, which has them alone on top of the NHL standings with 15 regular-season games remaining.
Winnipeg now enjoys a double-digit cushion over second-place Dallas (42-21-2) in the Central Division and Western Conference. Although the Stars do have two games in hand that’s a sizable gap to make up in such a short period of time. “It was a big game,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel.
“The difference between us being up six points or now being up 10 points. They recognized that we had to be at our best against a really good hockey team that doesn’t give you a whole lot of ice or a whole lot of room to work. I thought we had a fantastic first period.
It was real solid. We got out, got the lead and didn’t stop from there.” According to the MoneyPuck website, the Jets now have a 90.
1 per cent chance capturing a first division title in Winnipeg hockey history (including both the 1.0 and 2.0 eras).
Wouldn’t that be something? Let’s break this one down further: It all starts in net with these Jets, and Hellebuyck once again showed why he’s the best goalie on the planet. You wonder if he managed a smile or two under his mask as fans serenaded Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger with multiple “Helly’s Backup” chants at various points in the game — a cheeky reference, of course, to the Team USA roster at the 4 Nations Face-Off last month. Hellebuyck came within three minutes and 49 seconds of besting his own franchise record for shutouts in a season, but was denied a seventh on the campaign when Mason Marchment beat him during a scramble late in the third period.
John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck saves a shot by the Stars’ Wyatt Johnston in the first period. Hellebuyck now has a league-leading 39 wins in 51 starts and is on pace to shatter his franchise-best of 44 victories and perhaps challenge the NHL’s all-time single-season mark of 48, held by Martin Brodeur and Braden Holtby. He also lowered his goals-against-average to a ridiculous 1.
97 while also boasting a save percentage of .927. Hellebuyck is a lock at this stage for a third Vezina Trophy, and he’s certainly in the conversation for the Hart Trophy as league MVP.
“They’re a really good offensive team and their offensive numbers are real high. We shut down a lot of avenues,” Arniel said of Hellebuyck and the team’s play in front of him. “We created our goals by defending first.
We played a 200-foot game of defence to make sure that they didn’t get room to work. It turned into offence for us and that’s what we’ve done all year long. We got up and got ahead of them and now, they’ve got to chase the game.
” Oettinger, who is tied for second in the league with 30 wins, stopped 17 of 21 shots he faced. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.
Dylan Samberg found himself in the unusual situation of breaking in a new blue-line partner on Friday night, one who might enjoy blocking shots more than he does. That would be recent trade addition Luke Schenn, who moved up to fill the spot normally occupied by Neal Pionk, who is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Samberg jokingly referred to them as the “bruise brothers” during the morning skate, given their penchant for eating pucks, but he also showed he’s got some offensive flair as well when he jumped into the rush and buried a Scheifele pass 8:01 into the game to open the scoring.
The Jets were all over the Stars at that point with several quality chances, and Samberg’s fifth goal of the year tilted the ice in their favour even more and had fans in a frenzy. John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS The Jets’ Colin Miller and Stars’ Mason Marchment collide during the first period. “It was a Friday night in Winnipeg in the barn here.
It was real electric, especially when we scored early,” said Arniel. “It really got the crowd going. They’ve been good all year, they’ve been watching a real good hockey team play good hockey throughout the season.
To have them behind us for that one, that’s a big boost.”” Samberg continues to evolve into a quiet star, playing 23:08 (second only to Josh Morrissey’s 23:28) and chipping in with three shots on goal, three blocked shots, two hits and two takeaways. Schenn also impressed in a bigger role, playing 19:57 with a game-high seven hits including a huge one that sent Stars forward Mikael Granlund flying.
Pionk is expected to return before the playoffs — the Jets decided to shut him down for a bit to allow a nagging ailment time to heal — the Samberg-Schenn pairing is off to a strong start. The top line of Scheifele, Connor and Gabe Vilardi showed that they can be big-game producers. Connor drew the secondary assist on Samberg’s goal after a nice zone entry, then took it upon himself to score the next two to really break the game open.
Connor ripped home his 34th of the year at 17:02 of the first after some great board work by Vilardi before Scheifele sent the puck his way. His 35th came at 6:43 of the second, this time off a perfect give-and-go with Josh Morrissey that Scheifele had started. Those are the types of plays you need from your game-breakers, and the Jets got them in spades on this night with the top line being involved in the first three tallies.
“Every game now is going to be the next big game, right?” said Connor. “It’s going to keep getting bigger. So we were able to rise to the task today, and hopefully we learned some lessons and what that looks like and kind of our foundation of how we were able to come out on top and play such a good game tonight.
And we take that on to the next one.” John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS Kyle Connor’s second-period shot finds the back of the net behind Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger as Gabriel Vilardi makes trouble in front of the Stars’ net. Connor’s second goal of the game early in the middle frame put the Jets in full control.
1. Jets Kyle Connor: 2G, 1A 2. Jets Mark Scheifele: 3A 3.
Jets D Dylan Samberg: 1G This was Winnipeg’s ninth capacity crowd of the year (15,225) through 34 home dates. The Jets killed off the only penalty they took and technically went 0-for-1 on the power play, although it came with just 1:18 left in the third period. Winnipeg’s healthy scratches were defencemen Logan Stanley and Ville Heinola and forwards David Gustafsson and Rasmus Kupari.
Dallas was without three key injured players in defenceman Miro Heiskanen and forwards Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin. Of those, only Hintz is expected back before the playoffs begin. The Jets now hit the road for three games starting Sunday evening in Seattle.
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ca X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the before joining the in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. .
Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism.
If you are not a paid reader, please consider . Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the before joining the in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. .
Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism.
If you are not a paid reader, please consider . Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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