Jets put red-hot Isles on Ice

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This article was published 07/02/2025 (270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets are heading into an extended hockey hiatus on a high.

A 4-3 victory over the visiting New York Islanders Friday night was the team’s eighth consecutive triumph — matching a franchise record they already tied earlier this season — and puts them alone on top of the NHL standings with a remarkable 39-14-3 record.

This game had a bit of a “last day of school” feeling to it, considering the Jets will now have a 15-day pause in the schedule due to the 4 Nations Face-Off. Give everyone team an A-plus for effort and execution despite the fact the Jets found themselves in a 1-0 hole 65 seconds into the game.

“The way the first period started, I wasn’t sure if some guys had already taken off,” head coach Scott Arniel joked. “No, you know what, it’s a great way to go out. We finished on a really good note against a desperate Islanders team and found a way to get ourselves another two points.”

The Islanders came to town just as hot as the Jets, having gone 8-1-0 in their last nine outings. As well, goaltender Ilya Sorokin had been doing his best impression of a brick wall, surrendering seven goals in his last seven starts.

New York also had an 8-1 advantage over Winnipeg in their last nine meetings dating back to 2018, so this outcome was akin to slaying a dragon for the home team.

“(The break) is going to be a lot more fun when we’re playing like this,” said forward Cole Perfetti. “We really like the way we’re playing right now, and we’re a really good team when we play like that. So it’s a lot of fun.”

WELCOME TO THE GABER-HOOD

The price tag on Gabe Vilardi’s next contract continues to go up. That’s a very good problem for Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff.

The 25-year-old winger, who was the key return in the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade and is a pending restricted free agent, scored twice to set a new career high in goals with 24. He also eclipsed the 50-point mark for the first time (he’s now up to 51), and the sky seems to be the limit for his potential.

“It feels good. Just being able to stay healthy, I think that is a big reason why I am able to achieve that right now,” said Vilardi. “And playing with such good players and the success we’ve had as a team is obviously worth looking at as well.”

Vilardi has found magic on the top line with Kyle Connor (two assists) and Mark Scheifele (two assists) while also boosting the top power-play unit in the league (which went 0-for-2 in this one despite several good chances).

Vilardi’s first on the night came early in the second period to erase a 2-1 deficit the Jets faced through 20 minutes and was the result of an outstanding Connor pass. His second came late in the middle frame to extend Winnipeg’s lead to 4-2 at the time, once again following some outstanding puck movement in the offensive zone.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME, COLE

The look on Nikolaj Ehlers’ face said it all. He couldn’t believe the no-look, behind-the-back pass from linemate Perfetti that resulted in Ehlers essentially having an empty net to shoot at late in the second period which came in between the Vilardi tallies and put the Jets ahead for the first time.

It was an incredible play by Perfetti, who now has points in five games in a row and nine points (4G, 5A) in his last seven outings.

“I made a quick glance and saw Nikky coming. Those are a little bit of a hoper I guess, sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. Glad it worked. He was in a great spot,” said Perfetti.

Just as the top line of Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi is cooking, so, too, is the trio of Perfetti, Ehlers and Vlad Namestnikov, who had the other helper on the play.

Winnipeg reaches a new level of danger when both top offensive lines are going at the same time, as has been the case lately.

POWERED BY A.I.

Alex Iafallo is not the biggest player on the ice at 6-feet and 200 pounds, but he sure looked like power forward when he got Winnipeg on the board early in the first period to tie the game 1-1.

The 31-year-old, who is a pending unrestricted free agent, turned on the jets as he skated down the right side, dropped his shoulder to cut to the net and beat Sorokin just under the crossbar.

Iafallo, who also came over in the trade for Dubois (along with Rasmus Kupari and a draft pick that turned into defence prospect Alfons Freij), is now up to eight goals this year. Brad Lambert, playing in his sixth career NHL game, recorded his first assist of the year (and second of his career) on the play.

You can give backup goalie Eric Comrie an unofficial assist on the play. Just a few seconds earlier, he handed Iafallo a new stick from his spot on the bench after Iafallo had donated his over to defenceman Neal Pionk after his broke in the defensive zone.

ALL EYES ON MARK

Scheifele came into the night still needing one goal to pass Ilya Kovalchuk and become the all-time franchise leader in that department. The milestone will have to wait at least one more game.

We also learned Friday that Scheifele is on standby as a potential injury replacement for Team Canada. It will be interesting to see if Scheifele gets a last-minute call considering Sidney Crosby and Anthony Cirelli are both currently nursing ailments. A decision must be made by Monday at the latest, with the tournament starting next Wednesday.

“I think he should be on the team,” Arniel said prior to puck drop. “If it works out for him, that’d be great. That’d be great experience for him. All those guys going to play in that, it’s like playing playoff hockey in February. And you love those guys to get into that, be around those type of players. Those are all good experiences. We’ll see where it ends up.”

KEY PLAY

Vilardi’s second goal of the night at 18:18 of the second period capped off a dominant frame for Winnipeg (they turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead), set a new career high for the Jets winger and proved to be the game-winner after Kyle Palmieri scored with just under nine minutes left in regulation to bring the visitors within a goal.

EXTRA, EXTRA

A crowd of 14,685 took in the game, which is 540 short of a sellout but above season average of 14,138 through the first 29 home dates.

There was slight booing of the Star-Spangled Banner prior to puck drop, although it wasn’t as loud or as sustained as it was during Tuesday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Jets went three-for-three on the penalty kill, with all of them coming in the final frame. Hellebuyck was a huge reason why, making eight of his 32 saves in one wild two-minute frenzy that came during the last Islanders power play late in the third. (New York outshot Winnipeg 19-6 in the third).

“It’s just the usual from him. He’s incredible, always on top of his game,” said Vilardi. “He’s so consistent that it’s really incredible to watch as his teammate on the ice and on the bench. It’s pretty cool to watch day in and day out.”

The Jets will now be off until practices resume on Feb. 19. They’ll return to game action on Feb. 22 in St. Louis.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg