FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: Home, mediocre home? The Jets made plenty of hay in their own barn last season, going 30-7-4 on their way to winning the Presidents’ Trophy. It’s been a different story at the downtown rink so far this year, with just a 3-3-0 showing.
What gives?
“Just the inconsistency,” Arniel said this morning when I asked him that very question.
“And it’s as a group, period to period. It’s as a group. You know, as an individual’s players being real good one shift and then having a tough one the next. To me, that’s what it’s all about. It’s just being consistent. Maybe on the road, you’re a little bit more leery of what may happen, and you’re obviously — the home crowd in the opposition building — kind of firing them up and having them go. And maybe here we just take a little bit too lightly, and that’s not something we’ve ever done here. We’ve usually pretty good in this building, so we do need be a lot better here.”
The Jets will host Chicago and then Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon before their schedule becomes road-heavy through much of November. They’ll play 11 of 14 games in enemy territory starting next week.
Chicago Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill talks with officials during an Oct. 11 game against the Montreal Canadiens. (Matt Marton / The Associated Press files)
The Blackhawks are no longer the free space on the NHL bingo card, and one thing that really stands out to me is that they’ve only surrendered 26 goals in 10 games. Only the Jets (25) have been more stingy in the Western Conference so far this season. That’s a sign they are really starting to come of age.
“They’ve put a lot of emphasis on defending,” Arniel told me.
“You know what, they’re buying in right now, you can really see it from everybody. They’re not giving up odd-man rushes, they’re not letting you get into a track meet. They’re doing a real good job and they have some real good talent, so if you make mistakes, they can put pucks in the net, they can make it hard on you. That’s pretty much going to be my message tonight. Don’t underestimate this team. This isn’t the team that we’ve seen the last couple of years.”
KEN SAYS: During a conversation with Toews earlier this week in Minnesota, he made it clear that he’s had plenty of time to process his departure from the Blackhawks and that he wasn’t going to be making a big deal out of his first meeting against his former team.
Though he didn’t pretend it was just going to be another game, either. It will probably be a bit more emotional in January when he makes his first trip to the United Center as a member of the visiting team, but that doesn’t mean Toews is lacking motivation in this meeting — he clearly wants to win. That’s just the way he’s wired and he was open in expressing that in our conversation.
When he spoke to a larger group of reporters after the morning skate, Toews reiterated how grateful he is for his time with the Blackhawks organization, which included three Stanley Cup victories and a lifetime of memories.
Toews is off to a solid start in his comeback, with a goal and five points in 10 games to go with his eye-popping 63.1 per cent efficiency in the faceoff circle, which is second-best in the NHL, trailing only Ottawa Senators centre Tim Stutzle.
It won’t surprise me at all if he has a big impact on the outcome of this game.
The Blackhawks have been led offensively by young, skilled forwards Bedard (six goals, 12 points) and Frank Nazar (five goals, 11 points).
That skill has been coupled with a desire to be better defensively, not to mention the elite goaltending from Knight, who was acquired from the Florida Panthers last season in the deadline deal for defenceman Seth Jones.
Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Spencer Knight (Melissa Tamez / The Associated Press files)
Knight has been posting Hellebuyckian numbers to start the campaign, with a .930 save percentage and 2.11 goals-against average in his seven appearances.
For all of the chatter about the Olympics, Bedard recently notched the first NHL hat trick of his career and his explosive start should have him involved in the conversation to push for a spot on Team Canada as well, although Macklin Celebrini has been generating a bit more buzz on that front in the early going this season.
PROJECTED LINES
WINNIPEG JETS
FORWARDS:
- Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
- Namestnikov-Toews-Iafallo
- Niederreiter-Barron-Nyquist
- Koepke-Ford-Pearson
DEFENCE:
- Morrissey-DeMelo
- Stanley-Pionk
- Fleury-Schenn
GOAL:
Hellebuyck
Comrie
INJURED: D Samberg (wrist), C Lowry (hip), F Perfetti (ankle)
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Miller, F Chibrikov, F Lambert
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS
FORWARDS:
- Greene-Bedard-Burakovsky
- Teravaninen-Nazar-Bertuzzi
- Donato-Dickinson-Mikheyev
- Dach-Foligno
DEFENCE:
- Vlasic-Rinzel
- Grzelcyk-Murphy
- Kaiser-Levshunov
- Crevier
GOAL:
INJURED: G Brossoit (knee)
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: F Slaggert, F Lafferty
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
— Blackhawks D-man Connor Murphy on seeing good friend and former teammate Jonathan Toews in another jersey:
“It’s weird in the highlights and will be even weirder in person. But fun to play against him and see all the talent he still has. I’m super happy for him. To see him be able to get back to this level is impressive. Not a lot of guys would be able to do it with that much time off, let alone going through a lot of physical change and needing to readjust his body and mindset to get back into it. It’s impressive, but none of it is too surprising when you know him and know the dedication, work ethic and commitment that he has. He’s the peak example in the NHL of a guy you want to follow around, look up to and learn off of.”
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON
Ken will have an early story on Jets winger Cole Koepke, who discusses how his first 10 games with his new NHL team have gone. Mike will have the game analysis of Jets vs. Blackhawks. You can find both pieces online at winnipegfreepress.com and in Friday’s print edition.
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