The Winnipeg Jets went into the nation’s capital on Wednesday night and defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-1 for their 11th straight win. Eleven straight wins is an incredible feat. The last time the Jets lost was on January 20th against the Utah Hockey Club, over a full month ago.
They currently sit atop the league-wide standings at 42-14-3 with an 11-point gap on the entire Western Conference.
That’s pretty good!
The Jets’ balanced attack powers them to victory
Some nights it has been the power play, others the top line, and others it’s been Connor Hellebuyck. This game was powered to victory by the Jets’ balanced attack, getting contributions up and down the lineup.
In order, the Jets got goals from Cole Perfetti (Line 2), Mason Appleton (Line 3), Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele (Line 1).
While the fourth line was the only line not to get on the scoresheet, they outshot their opponents 8-2 at 5v5 with an 86.63% expected goals percentage.
Of the 11-game winning streak, Mason Appleton said that this one wasn’t one that they want to use as a blueprint heading forward.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
“That was probably the ugliest one,” Appleton said of the 11-game win streak. “It’s a testament to the type of team we are, how deep we are, and we find different ways to win. Not every one is going to be a Picasso, and tonight we felt like we gave up a little too much, but we still found a way to get the win and that’s what matters.”
When asked if he would agree with Mason’s assessment, Scott Arniel said: “I would concur, the first two periods were pretty sloppy.”
Connor Hellebuyck stood tall when the Senators had their offensive-zone time in the first and second periods, and then the Jets shut it down from there.
With different parts of their lineup contributing throughout the game, the Jets extended their franchise-record winning streak to 11 games, with the opportunity to make it a dozen tonight against Nashville.
Power play struggles coming out of the break?
The Jets went into the Four Nations Face-Off break as the best power play in NHL history (33.3%), and have come out of the break in a bit of a slump.
They are 0-for-8 in their three games out of the break with the man advantage, and in last night’s game against Ottawa they went 0-for-4 with a full two minutes of five-on-three action, and with that, it is starting to become a concern for some.
“It’s not gonna go our way every night,” Cole Perfetti said on the power play.
The power play continued to generate chances, and there is a very large sample of them being the best power play in the league, so I don’t think there is anything to worry about quite yet.
The Winnipeg Jets are 32-0-1 when leading after two periods
So far this season, the Jets are a staggering 32-0-1 when leading after two periods, which speaks to not only Connor Hellebuyck’s dominance but also the Jets’ ability to buy in and shut it down in the third period.
Last night was another test to that, as after four minutes of frantic penalty-killing, the Senators began to build momentum into the third period and made their push. The Jets never let the game get close, kept chances to the outside, and held the Senators to just two shots on goal in the third period.
That’s the sign of a dominant team. They can win a shootout, they can lock you down in the third period, they can win low-scoring, and the result is 11 straight wins at a time of the calendar when the Jets usually slump.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
Another mind-boggling stat is when Dylan Samberg is in the lineup, the Jets are 31-5-1. That’s an 82-game pace of 139. Reading between the lines, the Jets are playing at a pace that would be the best in NHL history when Dylan Samberg is in the lineup.
Up next:
The Winnipeg Jets will take on the Nashville Predators tonight as they look for their 12th straight victory.
Tune into the Illegalcurve postgame show on YouTube right after the final buzzer for an immediate reaction to the game, and head to illegalcurve.com the following morning for the latest edition of the next-day takeaways.
