Good teams seem drawn by central location

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This article was published 17/10/2015 (3620 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A tidy start of 4-1 in the books, the Winnipeg Jets come to their first Central Division test Sunday when the St. Louis Blues visit the MTS Centre (2 p.m., TSN3, TSN 1290).

It will be a battle of 4-1 teams in the NHL’s toughest division that, as of Friday night, had already recorded more victories than any other division, 21. And that’s with only seven members, compared to the eight in each of the Eastern Conference divisions.

“It’s not even just the quality of the teams, it’s the style of teams on our side,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said Saturday. “Chicago is maybe the least physical of the group and they turned out to be not so bad in the last six years.

“There’s a physical cost to playing in this division as well. (Like) the grind against St. Louis. Nashville, a very strong back end. Really good defensive units.”

The Jets put up a 16-8-5 mark within the Central last season, one of the big reasons they were able to advance to the playoffs.

“You listen to (Tampa Bay coach) Jon Cooper’s comments, talking about… their start being important because they were then going to play some games in the Central Division in the middle part of their schedule,” Maurice added. “They were in the finals last year.

“It’s a good place to play. It’s a good place to coach because there aren’t any nights when you get to be half-good and win and it’s a good training ground for young players.”

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Jets right-winger Blake Wheeler escaped serious injury Friday night when he was clipped by an opponent’s skate in the third period of the 3-1 victory over Calgary.

He was able to return and he scored the empty-net goal that sealed the win.

“Kind of a freak thing,” said Wheeler, who has seven points and has scored at least one in each of the team’s first five games. “Skate came up and sliced it a little. Dodged a bullet there.

“It was a lot more scary than it was serious. Just fortunate it wasn’t more to the left or right, could have had a big problem there.”

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The difference between last season’s 1-4 start and this year’s 4-1 is obvious, Wheeler said Saturday.

“(Last year we were) at 1-4 and trying to figure out who we are,” Wheeler said. “We had to fight for our lives to get to that point last year to trust one another. That’s why we’re kind of having success now. That’s the expectation and it’s about going out there and getting the job done.

“We’re better than we were last year at this time because we’ve played this way for a year-plus now. The more familiarity you have with one another and the more familiarity you have with the style of game you’re trying play, the better you’re going to play.”

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Maurice would not say Saturday who was going to play goal for the Jets Sunday, 2-1 Ondrej Pavelec, who won Friday, or 2-0 Michael Hutchinson.

“We’re going to put one in,” Maurice said.

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Defenceman Ben Chiarot won’t play against the Blues Sunday. He did return to practice Saturday after missing two games in the last week due to an undisclosed injury.

Maurice said Chiarot won’t be in the lineup just yet.

Asked whether winger Anthony Peluso can expect to get into Sunday’s game — he hasn’t played yet, the coach said: “Eventually you’re going to see everybody play here.”

Then he added, as if an aside to himself: “That’s as vague as you can get.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca