Sizzling Jets beat Stars, earn place in NHL record book

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This article was published 09/11/2024 (340 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This team is something else. And now the scorching-hot Winnipeg Jets have skated their way into the NHL history books.

A dominating 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars Saturday afternoon at a sold-out Canada Life Centre means they are the first team to ever start a season with 14 wins in 15 games.

“I’m pretty amazed a little bit,” admitted head coach Scott Arniel, who couldn’t have scripted a better start to his second shot behind a big-league bench.

“These players, they do have to recognize that it’s an amazing feat, what they’ve done so far. But we’d like to just keep this going a little bit longer.”

That shouldn’t be an issue if they play the way they did against a Stars team that is viewed as one of the best in the league but had no answers for a Jets squad that is firing on all cylinders. To be blunt, the final score seriously flattered the visitors.

“We’ve had some really good games this year but that might have been the most complete game,” said Arniel.

“It was against an extremely good opponent, tough opponent, divisional opponent. Just the way we, especially structurally-wise, were for 60 minutes, that was rock-solid.”

Jets players weren’t happy with how they played in a 1-0 victory on Thursday over the Colorado Avalanche and spoke about needing a stronger showing in this one.

Mission accomplished.

“We fixed what needed to be better,” said forward Vlad Namestnikov. “We met as a group and talked and (Saturday) was just all about us and our work ethic, doing the little things right and not turning over pucks in the neutral zone.”

HELLEBUYCK RAISES THE BAR: It all starts in net with these Jets, who are led by reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck. He came within 82 seconds of recording a third consecutive shutout but still set a new franchise mark for longest streak without surrendering a goal.

The old mark of 187 minutes and five seconds was held by Ondrej Pavelec from the 2014-15 season, but Hellebuyck now sits at No. 1 with 191 minutes and 47 seconds between red lights going off behind him.

A Logan Stanley cross-checking penalty late in the third period had Dallas pressing, including a wild goal-mouth scramble in which Hellebuyck lost his stick. Just two seconds after Stanley stepped out of the sin bin, Roope Hintz fired a shot that trickled through Hellebuyck’s five-hole.

“Obviously it’s tough to see that one go in,” said Arniel. “It’s awesome what he does every night. You almost take it for granted at times. I know the crowd goes crazy, but we see that in practice every day, we see it in games often. He’s elite.”

Hellebuyck’s personal numbers are absurd. He’s 11-1-0 in 12 starts with a 1.83 goals-against-average and .935 save-percentage.

“Another hell of a game,” said forward Alex Iafallo. “He’s making incredible saves and keeping our plays in it and making those defensive plays. It goes a long way and pushes us forward. I think he’s having a hell of a start, so he’s got to keep it going. It’s pretty fun to watch.”

POWER PLAY KEEPS PRODUCING: It’s one thing to have the best goaltender in the league. But throw in a potent power play and now you really have the recipe for something special.

Iafallo opened the scoring at 7:28 of the first period when he one-timed a beautiful pass from Namestnikov for his second of the year with Dallas forward Sam Steel in the box for tripping.

It came after some dominating offensive zone play by Winnipeg, where it seemed like just a matter of time before they found the back of the net.

Nikolaj Ehlers hammered home his ninth of the season — tying Kyle Connor for the team lead — near the midway mark of the middle frame with the Jets again on the man advantage. This time, the Jets took advantage of a foolish roughing penalty by Stars captain Jamie Benn, who was running around all game trying to inflict punishment.

Winnipeg has now scored a league-leading 18 power-play goals this year — 10 by the No. 1 unit, eight by the second unit — along with an NHL-best 41.9 per cent efficiency rate.

The penalty kill has been above-average too, going 4-for-4 against Dallas to sit 13th overall at 82.4 per cent.

Benn would take another selfish minor later in the game, cross-checking Cole Perfetti, which prompted Jets captain Adam Lowry to come to his teammates defence as drop the gloves in a short but spirited tilt.

“He’s a hell of a captain,” said Iafallo.

“To stick up for teammates like that, pretty much everyone would do it, but he’s awesome for doing that. He’s done it his whole career, obviously. I’m just glad he’s on our team.”

DEPTH COMES THROUGH AGAIN: Rasmus Kupari has been buzzing lately but hadn’t scored a goal since opening night in Edmonton.

But the young fourth-line centre finally got rewarded for his strong work midway through the first period, finishing off a great feed from Iafallo for his second of the season.

Namestnikov, who is currently the second-line centre but can play up and down the lineup, had Winnipeg’s other tally early in the second when he followed up his own wraparound attempt and poked home a loose puck for his fourth.

“It’s real simple for me. It’s such a team effort,” said Arniel.

“This isn’t Helle winning every game. This isn’t Scheifele’s line winning us every game. To me, this is 23 guys. This has been unbelievable in the sense of how everybody has contributed. Whether that’s blocking shots or making little detailed plays, defending, but obviously scoring goals.”

CROWD WAS ON FIRE: The downtown barn was rocking right from opening puck drop, with the NHL’s No. 1 team giving the 15,225 fans plenty to cheer about.

The fact the second sellout of the year happened 3 1/2 hours before the Winnipeg Blue Bombers hosted the Saskatchewan Roughriders at a sold-out Princess Auto Stadium is truly impressive.

Winnipeg is notorious for some of its creative chants over the years, and they came up with a beauty in this one.

Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger was repeatedly serenaded with “U.S. Backup, U.S. Backup” — a cheeky nod to the fact he’s likely going to be playing second fiddle (at least) to Hellebuyck when it comes to the American squad at both the 4 Nations Face-Off and 2026 Winter Olympics.

Oettinger, by the way, was given the hook shortly after Namestnikov made it 4-0, stopping just 11 of 15 shots he faced.

Casey DeSmith came on in relief and stopped all 10 shots he faced, including several of the highlight-reel variety which kept the game from becoming a rout.

The Jets are now 6-0-0 against the Central Division this year, with 20 more games to go including three more meetings with the Stars, who fell to 8-5-0.

“Dallas, we’re a lot alike. We look a lot alike, we play a lot alike,” said Arniel. “They’re a really good hockey team. They’ve been one of the best teams in the West. I think they’re at the top of the pile. For us to go head-to-head like we did, and we won most of those battles, obviously it showed on the scoreboard.”

KEY PLAY: Vlad Namestnikov’s terrific second-effort early in the second period made it a 3-0 game and had the Jets in cruise control.

THREE STARS: 1. Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck: 32 saves; 2. Winnipeg centre Vlad Namestnikov: one goal, one assist; 3. Winnipeg right-winger Alex Iafallo: one goal, one assist

EXTRA, EXTRA: The Jets paid tribute to long-time Winnipeg Sun sports reporter/editor Ted Wyman, who passed away early Saturday at the age of 58 due to cancer. A bouquet of flowers and a framed picture sat in his former press box seat at the rink, and a video message was played during the first television timeout…

Winnipeg will now enjoy two days away from the rink following a stretch in which they played 12 games in the past 23 days. They’ll fly on Monday to the Big Apple, where a three-game road trip starts Tuesday against the New York Rangers.

“(Winnipeg’s start) is historic but, you know, I just can’t stress enough — and you guys are probably going to get sick of this — but it is about how we let the last game go and move on to the next opponent,” said Arniel.

“We’ve done a good job and we get a huge break now. We get two days off. And then we start nine out of 10 on the road so just the way the players have done a fantastic job of putting things in perspective in each game, each situation, and moving on to the next.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg