FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: It sure feels like the Jets need to slay the proverbial dragon and finally come out on top against the Golden Knights, doesn’t it? The players apparently don’t see it that way, insisting a lack of recent success against Vegas isn’t in their heads.
“It’s more of a narrative that you guys (in the media) have. We don’t think about it as much, to be honest with you,” said Barron.
“They’re a good, quality team and at times, we obviously haven’t put our best effort forward. We have so many games here that they all kind of blend together and for us, it doesn’t really matter who we’re playing or what our record has been against them in past years, it’s about this year and tonight.”
Fair enough. If the Jets are to finally break through, they’ll need to do a much better job against the rush. Vegas comes in waves — not unlike how Winnipeg tries to play — and really punished them last month by scoring three times in that fashion, including the late-game dagger.
“One thing about Vegas is their D are always coming. They like to delay, they like to find the late people,” Arniel said of trying to defend that kind of attack.
“It’s all about our sort-outs as we get into our end of the rink. It would be nice if we can kind of shut those off before the blue line. If they do get in, we gotta sort that out fast, because they do a good job of finding late people and attacking the net from there.”
There’s plenty of local flavour in the Vegas lineup, with four Manitoba products suiting up tonight in Howden, Mark Stone, Keegan Kolesar (who used to umpire my son’s baseball games!) and Zach Whitecloud, who returns from a near three-week injury absence.
On the Winnipeg side, I’m looking forward to seeing what Nikita Chibrikov can do for an encore after a terrific season debut the other night against Boston, with a goal and an assist and plenty of plucky play. He’s a lot of fun to watch.
KEN SAYS: The Jets’ top line had an outstanding game in Tuesday’s blowout, scoring three times at five-on-five and contributing four goals and eight points overall — with two goals and an assist for Mark Scheifele, one goal and two assists for Kyle Connor and one goal and one assist for Gabe Vilardi.
Although they had some defensive zone issues earlier in the season, the top line has done an excellent job of getting to a net-positive place (plus-4 with 21 goals for and 17 goals against at five-on-five) after being outscored 9-2 in those circumstances early in the season.
“For them, we look and know who the drivers are of their team,” said Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy. “We’ve got to make sure that we make them work for everything. I know they had a nice game against Boston the other night and they’re going to be feeling good about themselves.”
The Jets need the top line to pace the offensive attack, but one of the reasons the Jets have been so successful this season is their ability to get contributions throughout the lineup.
The Golden Knights have one of the deepest — and biggest — defence corps in the entire league, so the Jets will need to make a concerted effort to get to the tough areas on the ice.
The struggling power play snapped out of a 2-for-19 funk by going 3 for the next 5, which allowed them to move back into second in the NHL in efficiency with the man-advantage (30.4 percent), trailing only the New Jersey Devils (31.3 percent) in that category. One of those goals came off the stick of Vladislav Namestnikov, who snapped a nine-game goal-scoring drought and had recorded only one goal in the previous seven games.
This is the first game this season that the Golden Knights will essentially be at full health, as Whitecloud draws back in. The Golden Knights continue to be led by centre Jack Eichel, whose two-way game has grown immensely under the tutelage of Cassidy. Eichel has nine goals and 38 points in 28 games and linemate Ivan Barbashev is averaging a point per game (28 in 28 games) as well. With Stone (six goals, 22 points in 14 games) back in the lineup, that’s one of the most productive trios in the NHL.
The goalie matchup is intriguing, as it could be a precursor to the first game between Canada and the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. Hill’s overall numbers this season don’t jump off the page (2.63 goals-against average, .905 save percentage in 18 games) but he’s been fantastic lately, allowing two goals or fewer in seven of his past eight starts — giving up only 14 goals during that stretch while posting one shutout.
PROJECTED LINES
WINNIPEG JETS
FORWARDS:
- Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
- Perfetti-Namestnikov-Chibrikov
- Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
- Barron-Kupari-Iafallo
DEFENCE:
- Morrissey-DeMelo
- Fleury-Pionk
- Stanley-Heinola
GOAL:
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Miller, D Coghlan
INJURED: D Samberg (broken foot), F Ehlers (lower-body), F Gustafsson (concussion)
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS
FORWARDS:
- Barbashev-Eichel-Stone
- Howden-Karlsson-Dorofeyev
- Holtz-Hertl-Olofsson
- Pearson-Roy-Kolesar
DEFENCE:
- McNabb-Theodore
- Hanifin-Pietrangelo
- Hague-Whitecloud
GOAL:
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Korczak, F Schwindt
INJURED: D Hutton (upper-body)
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
Jets defenceman Neal Pionk on what finally getting two points against the Golden Knights would mean:
“Well, they’ve been one of the best teams in the West ever since they came in the league. So yeah, it’s always a big challenge when they come to our building, when we go into theirs. So it would be nice to beat them.”
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON
Mike has an early story coming today that takes a detailed look at Jets attendance so far this season, including a new push from the organization targeting the city’s corporate community. Ken will have the game analysis of the Jets versus the Golden Knights from the rink tonight. You can find both stories online at winnipegfreepress.com and in Friday’s print edition.
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