Winnipeg Jets at Calgary Flames

CALGARY — It’s a battle between two of the NHLs biggest surprises coming out of the gate as the Winnipeg Jets face the Calgary Flames in the first of three meetings this season.

The Jets looked like a playoff team coming out of training camp, but they’ve taken the league by storm and while the sample size remains small, they’ve shown signs of a team that could battle for top spot in the Central Division, not just compete for one of the two available wild cards in the Western Conference.

The Flames suffered their first regulation loss of the season on Thursday, falling 4-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes but they’re currently tied in top spot in the Pacific Division with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Not bad for a team few observers predicted would be hovering around the playoff line, let alone battling for the second seed in the West.

“They’re playing well as a group, they’ve got depth and their four lines are coming at you,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “They’re a hard team (to play against). They don’t give you a lot of open ice. On the transition side, they’ve got people that can go the opposite way in a hurry and they have the ability to attack you.”

Winnipeg overcame a poorly executed first period and survived blowing a two-goal lead in the third period to earn a 4-3 overtime victory over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

That pushed the Jets to 7-0-0 on the campaign and they’re up to 15 consecutive regular season wins — which is two shy of the Pittsburgh Penguins record, which dates back to 1992-93.

“Yes, you always want to be the team that ends streaks, but we’re seven games in,” said Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who supplied the OT winner on Thursday. “We’re still not playing our best hockey. We’re working towards that. It’s a long season ahead.

“I don’t think (the Flames) are going to be playing any different than if they were playing another team that wasn’t unbeaten yet.”

With a 5 p.m. puck drop in the Mountain Time Zone, neither team will hold a morning skate, so there could be some lineup questions.

The Jets aren’t expected to make any changes, though it was tough to determine the Flames’ third pairing based on Friday’s workout.

Look for the goalie matchup to be Connor Hellebuyck for the Jets and Dustin Wolf for the Flames.

Here’s some other information to get you set for puck drop.

—Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

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FROM THE PRESS BOX

MIKE SAYS: All good things must come to an end, right? Give credit to the Jets, who are doing their best to test the credibility of that sentiment. They may not all be Picassos, but the overall body of work has been picture-perfect.

I wondered aloud in this space on Thursday when Gabe Vilardi would break his scoring slump, and he went out and potted his first against the Kraken.

You’re welcome!

Now, let’s see if I can give the ol’ good luck bump to the remaining NHL player from that Pierre-Luc Dubois return who has yet to find the back of the net this season.

When will Alex Iafallo join Vilardi and Rasmus Kupari, who scored in the season-opener? (Which, let the record show, I actually called earlier that day while doing my weekly Winnipeg Sports Talk hit with Andrew “Hustler” Paterson. True story!)

I’ve liked the work of the fourth line this year, and it says here Iafallo is due to get a payoff sooner than later. He’s also in a contract year, so you know he’d love to chip in with a bit more offence than his two assists so far.

I’m not saying it will happen tonight — but I’m not NOT saying that either!

And if I call this one correctly, then look for my winning lottery numbers in the next edition of Mike Says, which will be renamed “Kreskin Says.”

KEN SAYS: We’ve spent plenty of time extolling the virtues of Kyle Connor’s offensive ability over the years — and for good reason — the Jets left-winger is one of the best pure snipers in the NHL. However, it was his commitment to defence and excellent back tracking that led to a pivotal play in Thursday’s overtime victory. Connor showed great hustle before lifting the stick of Oliver Bjorkstrand, stealing the puck just inside the offensive blue line to start the sequence that led to Vilardi’s aforementioned first goal of the season. Jets centre Mark Scheifele grabbed the puck quickly and found Vilardi all alone down low for the power move that capped the effort on the marker that made it 2-1 for the Jets.

Winnipeg Jets left wing Nikolaj Ehlers, left, celebrates his game-winning goal with teammate Mark Scheifele (55) as Seattle Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour (62) looks away during overtime Thursday. (Lindsey Wasson / The Associated Press files)

Connor and Scheifele also drew the assists on the OT winner from Nikolaj Ehlers. Much has been made about the five-on-five results for the Scheifele line, but when the game has been on the line in the early stages of this season, Scheifele and Connor have been right in the middle of many of the clutch markers that have helped the Jets hold the best record in the NHL.

Points don’t always tell the whole story, but the fact the Jets currently have six players producing at a point-per-game rate — including Scheifele, Ehlers, Connor, Perfetti, Pionk and Morrissey — and four others just under that pace (Nino Niederreiter, Adam Lowry, Mason Appleton and Vladislav Namestnikov) is a reinforcement of the depth they feature throughout the lineup. Being able to lean on that depth is essential to sustained success in this league.

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

FORWARDS:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi

Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers

Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton

Barron-Kupari-Iafallo

DEFENCE:

Morrissey-DeMelo

Samberg-Pionk

Stanley-Miller

GOAL:

Hellebuyck

Comrie

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Coghlan, D Fleury, F Gustafsson

INJURED: D Heinola (ankle), F Anderson-Dolan (foot)

CALGARY FLAMES

FORWARDS:

Posposil-Kadri-Kuzmenko

Zary-Backlund-Coleman

Huberdeau-Kirkland-Mantha

Lomberg-Rooney-Klapka

DEFENCE:

Bahl-Andersson

Weegar-Miromanov

Bean-Barrie

GOAL:

Wolf

Vladar

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Pachal, D Hanley

INJURED: F Sherangovich (lower body), F Honzek (upper body)

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers on his team’s ability to overcome deficits this season:

“When we get behind by one, we’re fine. We know we have the team to get back into games and we know we’re going to score enough goals. We don’t panic. We have the confidence to go out and change the way that we play if we’re not playing well.”

WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON

Ken is wrapping up this three-game road trip and you can check out the game analysis from Calgary online at winnipegfreepress.com. The monthly mailbag is also set to run on Sunday, so be sure to check out the questions and answers there as well.