FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: Plenty of eyes were on head coach Scott Arniel as he took the reigns from the retired Rick Bowness in what was his long-awaited second chance behind an NHL bench. And it says here he’s pushed all the right buttons and said all the right things so far.
I loved the fact Arniel took out the line blender on Thursday night despite the fact his club was up a goal to start the third period. And I appreciated the fact he didn’t try to sugarcoat the victory — nor did his players for that matter — when speaking with us after the fact.
There’s no shortage of maturity and accountability on display, and the fact Arniel is willing to shake things up even with all the success his squad has enjoyed so far speaks volumes about the culture and the mindset within this group.
Arniel was asked Friday why he’s been so honest and, at times, blunt when speaking with us media types.
“I’m not giving you all of our secrets. I’m not giving you all of what is said. At the end of the day, you guys are watching the game, too. You guys are seeing what’s going on,” he replied. “I try, first and foremost, I talk to the players about it. They know first what is coming out of my mouth, how I felt about a win or a loss. I don’t think there is too much you can hide in this game now. It’s how I handle that.”
That’s a perfect answer.
You’d almost think the Jets lost the game Thursday given their comments, with Mason Appleton going so far as to suggest he gets the same feeling from his teammates as he did when they suffered their first (and only) defeat so far. I’m not sure there’s such a thing as a “bounceback game” for a team that is coming off a win that improved their record to 13-1-0, but you get the sense Winnipeg is looking forward to this latest test.
This is the end of a tough stretch of schedule in which the Jets played every other day for more than three weeks (12 games in 23 days). They’ll get two straight off after this one before really diving into the NHL’s deep end, with nine of the next 10 on the road, starting Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden against the reigning Presidents Trophy winners.
KEN SAYS: Despite winning a fifth consecutive game, the Jets were transparent in saying publicly that their effort wasn’t up to their standard against the Avalanche. How will they respond in their first meeting against the Stars? One would suspect they’ll be up for the task and won’t be planning to rely as heavily on Hellebuyck, who is likely to go head-to-head with his soon-to-be Team USA teammate at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.
Hellebuyck’s numbers have been exceptional (10-1 record, a 1.91 goals-against average and .932 save percentage) and he’s set to make his 26th career start against the Stars. He’s gone 11-9-5 with a 2.67 goals-against average and .916 save percentage against them.
The Stars have one game under their collective belts after returning home from the Global Series matchups in Finland with the Florida Panthers, which was a 3-1 victory on Thursday night over the Chicago Blackhawks. They’re hoping to try and make up some ground in the Central. The Jets hold a 10-point edge, though the Stars currently hold two games in hand.
The veteran duo of Matt Duchene (15 points) and Tyler Seguin (10 points in eight games) have done a fantastic job to lead the way offensively, with the support of Logan Stankoven (Mike’s choice for the Calder Trophy in our preseason projections and my runner-up).
Seguin’s success in his career against the Jets is well documented (29 goals, including nine game-winners and 54 points in 49 games), while captain Jamie Benn (19 goals, 43 points in 45 games) has also been known to come up big against them. It’s surprising to see Jason Robertson off to a slow start by his standards (four goals, seven points in 12 games), but he’s someone to pay attention to on the top line with speedster Roope Hintz.
Miro Heiskanen is off to a tougher start offensively with four helpers in 12 games, but remains a player to keep your eyes on, giving his penchant for getting involved in the rush on the second wave. He has a new D partner in former Wild blue-liner Matt Dumba, who is someone the Jets have had on their radar in the past.
PROJECTED LINES
WINNIPEG JETS
FORWARDS:
- Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
- Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers
- Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
- Barron-Kupari-Iafallo
DEFENCE:
- Morrissey-DeMelo
- Samberg-Pionk
- Stanley-Miller
GOAL:
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Coghlan, D Fleury, F Gustafsson
INJURED: D Heinola (ankle)
DALLAS STARS
FORWARDS:
- Robertson-Hintz-Dadonov
- Benn-Johnston-Stankoven
- Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
- Steel-Bourque-Blackwell
DEFENCE:
- Heiskanen-Dumba
- Harley-Lyubushkin
- Lindell-Lundqvist
GOAL:
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Smith, C Back
INJURED: None
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
Jets coach Scott Arniel on staying in the moment and not letting emotions get too high (or too low):
“The biggest thing you gotta remember with 82 games is you’re going to win games, some you don’t deserve. You’re going to lose some that maybe you don’t deserve. You can’t be critical when they get two points. It is an extremely hard league. When you can build points like we’re building now, putting stuff in the bank, it’s so important. It’s only going to get heavier, get tougher, just in the sense of trying to stay with what we do. Honestly, I know it gets repetitive, but as fast as what happened (Thursday) night, we’re on to Dallas now. As much as some of the things I liked and didn’t like (Thursday) night, we gotta move on. We gotta get on to the next one. And that’s the part, for me, where the players have been really good about parking stuff. We do our review as a group. We do it as lines sometimes. We do it with individuals. But then we move on.”
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON
Mike is at the rink and will have game coverage of Jets vs. Stars. You can read it online at winnipegfreepress.com
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