Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
This next-day column usually covers the game the night before. However, with an eight-game winning streak heading into a 15-day break, why not expand past just the 4-3 win over the Islanders last night and provide one thought for each win of this impressive stretch?
Here are eight things I took away from the Winnipeg Jets’ eight-game winning streak heading into the Four Nations Face-Off break.
Scott Arniel called a 5-2 loss to the Utah Hockey Club “embarrassing” on January 20. The next day, he announced that Adam Lowry would be week-to-week with an injury.
Who at that moment would have guessed that this team would rattle off eight straight wins, with a handful of those wins coming against quality opponents?
The red-hot, but not contender-status Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders, the desperate Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames, the division rivals of Utah HC and the Colorado Avalanche, and the true contenders in the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes, weren’t good enough to beat the Jets in this stretch.
If you’ve been following the Jets for long enough, you’ll know that playing well heading into the All-Star break is hard to come by for this squad. Not this year, as they’ve won eight straight, but the process has been fantastic in those games.
They’ve gone 14-4-2 since the Christmas break, good for the top spot in the Western Conference over that time.
In that stretch, here are some of their numbers league-wide, with the analytics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick:
Looking at those numbers, the bigger picture than just the eight-game winning streak, it was a pretty incredible run from the Jets from the holiday break until the Four Nations break.
Cole Perfetti was asked about what that shift could be this season.
“I think when something doesn’t go our way, it’s not the end of the world,” Perfetti said. “We get down in a game, or we lose a game, or whatever. A play doesn’t go our way, our call doesn’t go away. We’re not, you know, getting on each other, getting on the refs, and kind of having that negative energy. We’re staying positive, and we’re not letting the past shifts affect our next ones. And I think that’s a big part of it, and it’s kind of a fresh slate every time we get out there and it’s working.”
That mentality is all over the ice when you watch this team. They are proving to be a resilient bunch, and that is something that can help them down the stretch.
File this under “good problems to have”, as Gabriel Vilardi and Dylan Samberg are both putting together incredible seasons in a contract year.
First on Samberg. The Winnipeg Jets are 28-5-1 when he is in the lineup and finishes the game this season. In other words, the Winnipeg Jets are playing at an unfathomable 133-point pace when Samberg plays.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
It would be fun to look back at training camp and how silly the “how will Samberg handle a top-four role” questions ended up being. I don’t think anyone could have predicted this big of a breakout from Samberg, and the Jets should have no worry locking him up to a long-term extension.
Now to Vilardi, who reached a new career-high in goals last night (24) through just 56 games. The story of VIlardi’s career has always been about health, but he is proving to be a top-line talent when he is in the lineup. He has been one of the prime reasons for the Jets’ league-best power play being as good as it has been, as well.
“To reach a career-high in goals and we’re at Game 56, it’s impressive,” Arniel said. “The single biggest thing for me is staying healthy and still playing hard and doing all the things. That line is extremely dangerous because he’s one-third of that mix, an important part of that mix, and the biggest thing is him being able to play all the games so far. “
Cole Perfetti is turning into a prick to play against. That is what he set out to do, and it’s becoming a nightly occurrence. Since that comment, where he said he was aiming to be “a prick to play against”, he has nine points in those seven games. He’s also riding a five-game point streak heading into the break.
On the season through 56 games played, he’s got 11 goals, 23 assists, and 34 points, putting him on pace for nearly 50 points this season.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
The points are welcome for a player of Perfetti’s skill level, but what should be most encouraging for Jets fans, is his defensive ability. Taking the full 56-game sample from this season, not only has Scott Arniel and the coaching staff trusted Perfetti in high-leverage defensive situations, but he has shown visible growth in that area.
Cole Perfetti will need to be a solid top-six contributor if the Jets go far in the playoffs this season, and what we’ve seen over this eight-game winning streak, is a player that can be just that.
The Winnipeg Jets power play remains at 33.3%, which as I wrote earlier this week, would be the greatest power play in NHL history if that held until the end of the season. There is a long way to go, but Davis Payne, Nikolaj Ehlers, and a handful of others deserve a ton of credit for reshaping the 22nd-best unit from a season ago, into one of the best in NHL history.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
For more on the power play, check out this piece from earlier in the week here.
In light of Adam Lowry and Morgan Barron’s injury, players have had to step up in the forward core, and the Jets have to be pleased with how those players have played.
Parker Ford got into his first career game and got on the scoresheet. Rasmus Kupari scored a big goal in the third period against the Hurricanes to put the Jets up 3-0 and put that game out of reach. David Gustafsson had a four-game points streak in the middle of this winning streak and has proven to be an effective fourth-line option. Alex Iafallo is proving to be a luxury on the Jets’ fourth line as well.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
Scott Arniel highlighted the depth that has stepped up over this winning streak after the 4-3 win over the Islanders.
“I like to think we’re a pretty well-rounded team and that’s part of what our group can be pretty excited about,” Arniel said. “On different nights, different people step up. You need extremely strong goaltending to win in this league. We obviously know what we have there. But the biggest thing is how much contribution we get from everybody. We had a ton of injuries to our defence. We had people step up. Our depth, look at what’s happening right now with Adam and Morgan out. A lot of guys have stepped up. That’s the stuff that I see. That’s why we’re more of a team than maybe some people think we are.”
A two-goal night, one of which was the OT winner, on a Saturday Hockey Night in Canada, in a battle between the top two teams in the NHL? Josh Morrissey banging the glass after his game-winner might not have been enough to catch national attention quite yet.
In this market, we see night in and night out that Josh Morrissey is one of the elite defencemen in the NHL, and when he puts on the Maple Leaf for Team Canada next week at the Four Nations Face-Off, the rest of the hockey world may see that too.
Morrissey has put up a stellar season so far and is primed to play a massive role for Canada, most likely on their second-pairing behind Cale Makar and Devon Toews.
After going eight games without a win, Eric Comrie got back into the win column over this stretch, with a 5-2 win over Calgary and his first shutout of the season, a 29-save shutout against Carolina in a 3-0 win.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
After all the talk about “run support” and how Comrie was receiving none of it, he played two of his better games this week and didn’t even need run support in one of the wins.
He’s been more than a capable backup this season, posting a .912 save percentage across 13 starts.
The Jets are now off for the next two weeks for the Four Nations Face-Off break, in which Josh Morrissey (Canada), Kyle Connor, and Connor Hellebuyck (USA) will be competing. However, the Manitoba Moose schedule picks up, as they’ll play eight games, six of which are at Canada Life Centre, between now and the Jets’ next game on February 22.
Stay tuned to Illegalcurve.com for all the Jets and Moose news you need over the break and heading into the final stretch of the season.
Jets hit the ice in Vancouver as they prepare to face the Canucks on Tuesday.
The GM of Winnipeg is down in Florida for GM meetings and spoke with Gino…
Win or Lose the day after a Jets game we get some next-day thoughts on…
Keeping you up-to-date with all the latest pro hockey news in Manitoba.
Recap of the game.
Recap of the game.