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SAN JOSE — The Winnipeg Jets are swimming with the big fish these days, battling for first place in the Central Division after posting four consecutive wins, including the first two on this four-game road trip. Now, they’ll enter the Shark Tank to try and feast on the NHL’s bottom-feeders.
It’s been a tale of two seasons for the 32nd-place Sharks, who lost 11 consecutive games (0-10-1) out of the gate and were outscored 20-3 in losses to the Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins. But in December, the Sharks are 3-1-1 and rallied for a pair of victories last week, including closing a 4-1 deficit against the Detroit Red Wings. They’re also finding the back of the net with greater frequency.
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In other words, take nothing for granted.
“You look at their last five games, they’re averaging 5.2 goals-per-game, they’ve had big comebacks. I’m taking the approach these guys just keep coming,” Jets head coach Rick Bowness said following the morning skate. “Regardless of what happened at the start of the year, they’re playing really well and scoring a lot of goals. We’re going to have to make sure we’re on our team structure defensively.”
The Jets will be without top scorer Kyle Connor, who suffered a significant knee injury in Sunday’s 4-2 victory in Anaheim. A source told the Free Press Connor is expected to miss between six to eight weeks, although that timeline could change based on further evaluation. Gabe Vilardi, fresh off scoring his first goal of the season against the Ducks, will move up to play on the top line with Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers.
Defenceman Nate Schmidt will return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch several times. However, Bowness left the door open for the Jets to possibly play 11 forwards and seven blue-liners, so one of Logan Stanley or Declan Chisholm could also suit up. If not, forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby would be the 12th forward.
Backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit will start tonight, meaning Connor Hellebuyck will get the call Wednesday night in Los Angeles as the road trip wraps up against the powerful Kings.
Here’s some additional information to get you set for puck drop:
FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: Winnipeg has gone a sensational 16 straight games without surrendering more than three goals. That’s tough to do in today’s NHL. They’ll need more of that sound defensive structure as the team faces life for the foreseeable future without Connor, who led the team with 17 goals and 11 assists.
Typically, the Jets have played their No. 1 netminder on the front end of a back-to-back situation, with the understudy getting mop-up duty the next night. So, it’s interesting they’ve changed that format here. On one hand, you could look at is as them viewing the powerful Kings as a much more potent opponent than the Sharks. To me, it says Winnipeg isn’t planning to treat the battle with the Kings like a “scheduled loss” — a common term used in the NHL for tired teams playing for a second night in a row — and they want to bring their best against an L.A. club with which they share some bad blood. The Kings not only beat them early in the season in Winnipeg, but Blake Lizotte knocked Vilardi out for 18 games with a questionable hit.
Brossoit is coming off his best performance of the season with the Jets, a 42-save performance last week in a 2-1 win over Carolina, so he’ll be looking to follow that up with another strong one.
Gabe Vilardi will move up to play on the top line with Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers while Kyle Connor is out with a significant knee injury. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files)
KEN SAYS: With much of the attention on how the Jets will try to replace the offence lost with Connor on the shelf for the foreseeable future, I will be watching Vilardi closely. After his first goal as a member of the Jets proved to be the game-winner, one would expect he will be riding high after a season-best 19:43 of ice time. Vilardi seems to be finding his stride and figures to be an offensive force.
Jets D-man Josh Morrissey had two primary assists on Sunday, including one on the game-winning goal, in 30:17 of ice time and he’s been dominant in each of the past two games and is up to five goals and 24 points in 26 games.
Forward Alex Iafallo has gone through a bit of a dry spell offensively (going pointless in 11 games and chipping in one assist during the past 13 games), but he has five goals and 16 points in 25 career games against the Sharks from his time with the Los Angeles Kings.
These are not the Sharks of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Brent Burns. Logan Couture is injured and Marc-Edouard Vlasic has been a frequent healthy scratch. The team is led by Tomas Hertl, who has nine goals and 24 points in 27 games. Forward Mikael Granlund has eight goals and 22 points in 33 career games against the Jets, many of whom came during his time in the Central Division with the Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators.
Even with Sunday’s come-from-behind win, the Jets are 2-5 against the Pacific Division this season and they’ll attempt to improve that mark before this three-game road trip is complete.
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