Jets meet Caps in showdown between NHL front-runners

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This article was published 31/01/2025 (243 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON — Never mind the measuring-stick mentality, this made-for-primetime matchup has the top two teams in the NHL sharing the marquee on Saturday night.

Compelling storylines aren’t hard to find, with the Winnipeg Jets riding a five-game winning streak and entering the battle with the most points in the NHL and the Washington Capitals maintaining the top points percentage going into Saturday’s battle at Capital One Arena.

In case you haven’t heard, Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin now needs 19 goals to pass Wayne Gretzky for the most goals in NHL history.

“Oh, it’s amazing,” said Jets centre Mark Scheifele, asked about what Ovechkin is doing after the 6-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Thursday. “He’s (one of), if not THE best shooter to ever play the game. It’s obviously really special to see. And very, very excited to play against him on Saturday.

“It’s very, very cool to see and you know, I have Ovie’s stick at home. It’s one I will treasure forever.”

That’s the thing about Ovechkin’s pursuit of Gretzky’s record, it’s leaving some of the best scorers in the NHL in awe — mostly because it’s a record that many people thought could never be broken.

After scoring in Thursday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators, Ovechkin is up to 876 career goals — thanks to 23 snipes in 35 games this season.

Had he not missed 16 games with a fractured fibula, Ovechkin would certainly be even closer to his historical moment.

“We know he’s close. He’s getting there,” Caps forward Pierre-Luc Dubois said in Ottawa after the morning skate.

“Every time he scores, whether we’re at home or on the road, there’s excitement and energy in the building. We’re all behind him, pushing in the same direction as him.”

As impressed as Scheifele and many others around the league are by Ovechkin, the Jets can’t be caught being spectators when they line up across from him.

Besides, the Capitals are far from a one-man show.

In moving to the top of the Eastern Conference so far, the Capitals have followed a similar formula to the one that’s given the Jets so much success this season.

Goaltending has been a strength for both teams, the difference being Connor Hellebuyck has carried the bulk of the workload while former Brandon Wheat Kings netminder Logan Thompson (27) and Charlie Lindgren (24) have a similar number of starts.

Much like the Jets, the Capitals have sound defensive structure and feature ample depth, including nine players with double digits in goals.

For the sake of comparison, Vladislav Namestnikov became the eighth member of the Jets to hit 10 goals on Thursday.

While the Jets feature a pair of 30-goal scorers in Scheifele (31) and linemate Kyle Connor (30) and Gabe Vilardi north of 20 (22), the Capitals have the same number of players as the Jets do with 20 goals or more, with Aliaksei Protas (21) and Tom Wilson (20) joining Ovechkin.

The Capitals have also done a great job of helping get a pair of third-overall picks back on track in Dubois (2016) and Dylan Strome, who was chosen by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2015 NHL Draft and is now flourishing in his third NHL stop.

Strome is playing the role previously occupied by Niklas Backstrom alongside Ovechkin, while Dubois is up to 11 goals and 41 points in 51 games this season playing a valuable two-way role on the second line after arriving in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings this past summer.

Much like the Jets have with Josh Morrissey (44 points) and Neal Pionk (33 points) supplying some much-needed offence on separate defensive pairs, the Capitals’ blueline features homegrown talent John Carlson (31 points) and a trade acquisition in Jakob Chychrun (33 points) who, like Pionk, happens to be a pending unrestricted free agent who is only boosting his value this season.

The similarities don’t end there, as the Jets and Capitals are first and second in goals scored per game, with Winnipeg at 3.58 and Washington at 3.49.

Goals against?

You guessed it, one one-hundredth of a point separating them, with the Capitals allowing 2.39 goals per game and the Jets giving up 2.40 goals per game.

On special teams, Winnipeg has an edge of nearly 10 per cent in power-play efficiency (33.1 to 23.1), while Washington’s penalty kill is third in the NHL (83.9) and the Jets sit in the middle of the pack at 16th (78.8).

The Jets improvement on both special-teams units is a big reason they continue to contend for the Presidents Trophy with the likes of the Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights.

One reason the Jets continue to sit atop the Central Division and Western Conference standings is their play during January.

In going 9-3-2 in 14 games, the Jets scored 48 goals and allowed only 31, giving them a top-notch plus-17 goal differential that moved them to plus-63 for the campaign.

That’s the best differential in the NHL.

Do you want to take a stab at which team is currently second in that category?

We’ll save you the search, it’s the Capitals at plus-54.

The next best mark is the Dallas Stars at plus-36, which again tells you just how good — and how consistent the Jets and Capitals have been this season.

After battling through the most exhausting portion of the schedule in late November and December, the Jets were able to take advantage of an extended portion of time in friendly Manitoba, including an eight-game homestand and a total of 10 home games.

Of the 29 games left in the regular season, the Jets have 13 at home and 16 on the road, so it’s fairly well-balanced — just like their overall game has been.

Whether you’re looking at the numbers or digging below the surface for some additional context, there’s just not much that separates these two former Southeast Division rivals.

Perhaps the best news is they will meet one more time during the regular season, with the return match scheduled for Canada Life Centre on March 25.

Before jumping ahead nearly two months, why not just enjoy the first meeting and see where things go from there.

“It’ll be fun,” said Scheifele. “We haven’t played them, yet, (but) they’ve been awesome all year.”

So have the Jets, which makes the matchup — and the chase for first overall — even more compelling.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld