New York Rangers at Winnipeg Jets

Hello, stranger.

The Winnipeg Jets will finally complete their 2025-26 tour of the NHL when they face the New York Rangers tonight — the only team they have yet to see this season.

It’s a battle between the last two Presidents’ Trophy winners, who now find themselves fighting to stay out of the league basement. The Jets enter play 27th overall in the standings, while the Rangers are two points behind them and tied for 28th.

An example of how humbling hockey can be and how quickly things can change?

“Yeah. Without a doubt,” said Jets coach Scott Arniel.

“We’re also seeing that a lot of these young teams now that were rebuilding are starting to come into their own. There’s a bunch of teams that were at the bottom of the standings for quite a while that have really stepped up, so it’s made for a lot more parity around the league.

“Every game is a lot tougher. The Rangers have their own issues or reasons why they are where they are. For us, we can talk about that but the season isn’t over yet. Let’s see where we are at the end of Game 82 and then we’ll discuss how the season played itself out.”

The Jets are coming off an ugly 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night — a game in which they generated just 13 shots on goal. That snapped a six-game point streak (4-0-2). However, they remain five points back of the final Western Conference wildcard spot after getting some help on the out-of-town scoreboard.

Anaheim Ducks’ Mikael Granlund (64) is checked by Winnipeg Jets’ Adam Lowry (17) during the first period of Tuesday's game. The Ducks won 4-1. (Fred Greenslade / The Canadian Press files)

Anaheim Ducks’ Mikael Granlund (64) is checked by Winnipeg Jets’ Adam Lowry (17) during the first period of Tuesday’s game. The Ducks won 4-1. (Fred Greenslade / The Canadian Press files)

“Just get back to what we were doing prior to that Anaheim game. We were fast. We were hard to play against,” said Arniel.

“We were doing a lot of good things when we didn’t have the puck, closing quick to get it back. And then offensively we were doing a real good job of playing fast and attacking the net.

“So it’s not like we haven’t done it in a while. We just had that one the other night. We’ve moved on from it. Get back to playing how we were playing recently and make sure we do what we have to do tonight against the Rangers.”

The Jets will roll with the same lineup, meaning Connor Hellebuyck for the seventh straight game and Ville Heinola is the lone healthy scratch.

The Rangers are on a bit of a hot streak, having won two straight games by a combined score of 10-2 (6-2 in Philadelphia, 4-0 at home against Calgary).

Igor Shesterkin gets the call in net, while veteran forward J.T. Miller is out with an injury. Unlike the Jets, there is no hope of still qualifying for the playoffs — they are 18 points out.

“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing at what time during the year, it’s gonna be a tough matchup,” said Jets defenceman Dylan Samberg. ”At this point of the season, we’ve just got to focus on ourselves in the way that we play. And the rest will take care of itself.”

The two teams will meet again in 10 days at Madison Square Garden to close out the season series.

—Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

FROM THE PRESS BOX

MIKE SAYS: I’m always curious about responses when it comes to pro athletes, and there’s plenty to look for tonight.

For example, how does Kyle Connor respond to playing against the coach who made him a healthy scratch for four straight games at the Winter Olympics last month?

I suspect the Jets winger will be plenty motivated to show Mike Sullivan what he might have been missing. Of course, the American team did win the gold medal, so it’s tough to second-guess what ultimately went down.

Speaking of Connor, how will he and Winnipeg’s other big offensive stars — Mark Scheifele, Gabe Vilardi, Josh Morrissey and Cole Perfetti specifically — respond to combining for zero shots on goal against the Ducks? That stat popped off the page for me, and I suspect those five — who make up the top power play unit — will be looking to generate a lot more in this one.

And, finally, how do the Jets as a whole respond to what everyone admitted was one of their worst games of the year — one that elicited Bronx cheers and boos from the hometown crowd?

Mark this one down as a “must win” if the Jets are to have any hope of staying in the wildcard playoff race, which is starting to resemble a turtle derby given how slow it’s moving. The good news from Tuesday is that Winnipeg didn’t lose any ground, but the margin for error got even slimmer.

With three of their next nine games against the No. 1 ranked Colorado Avalanche — including a meeting this Saturday afternoon — the Jets can’t afford to get anything but two points against the lowly Rangers.

I’m also curious how the Jets handle goaltending duties coming up. Does Hellebuyck make an eighth straight start against the mighty Avs, then finally get a rest and take a seat on Sunday when the Jets host the St. Louis Blues? Or, do they keep riding their No. 1 guy until/unless they feel a playoff spot is no longer realistic?

There’s another race happening in the standings these days — the quest for the best odds at the No. 1 draft pick. In that sense, Winnipeg currently sits sixth-overall with 62 points, “trailing” the Rangers (and the Blues) who are two points “ahead” of them with 60. Vancouver (46 points) is running away with that top spot, while Calgary (57) and Chicago (59) are second and third, respectively.

If the Jets aren’t going to make the leap into a playoff spot, they’d benefit greatly by not jumping up any further, and perhaps even falling back a few slots. Toronto (65), New Jersey (66), Nashville (66) and San Jose (66) currently round out the “Top 10” — which, of course, is actually the bottom 10, in reverse order.

KEN SAYS: It’s another milestone for a prominent Jets player, with defenceman Dylan DeMelo set to suit up in his 700th NHL game.

It’s an outstanding accomplishment, especially when you consider he was originally chosen by the San Jose Sharks in the sixth round (179th overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft.

Winnipeg Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo (Nick Wass / The Associated Press files)

Now in his third NHL organization, DeMelo found a great fit with the Jets and has moved his way up the depth chart to play alongside Morrissey on the top pairing for the majority of his time with the Jets. That’s a testament to the work DeMelo has put in along the way. He’s been a consistent performer and, at 32, he’s well on his way to hitting 1,000 NHL games.

Jets defenceman Elias Salomonsson continues to thrive and he’s going to add running the second power play to his list of duties on Thursday. Salomonsson is familiar with the role from his time with the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League, but this is the first chance to do so at the NHL level.

Given the poise he plays with and his ability to get his shot off quickly and to the net, it’s a natural progression for him. Salomonsson has been rock solid for the Jets and seems to be getting more comfortable as the season moves along, which is even more impressive because the level of play around the league is also rising during the stretch run.

For the Rangers, top centre Mika Zibanejad is having an excellent offensive season, averaging nearly a point per game with 27 goals and 61 points in 63 games. But the dropoff is pretty severe after that, as Vincent Trocheck is second in scoring with 43 points.

Trocheck was a target of several teams leading up to the NHL trade deadline, but Rangers GM Chris Drury didn’t get an offer to his liking, so he’ll remain in the 2C role for the remainder of the season and see what the summer brings.

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

FORWARDS:

Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Perfetti-Lowry-Vilardi
Nyquist-Toews-Rosen
Koepke-Barron-Lambert

DEFENCE:

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Salomonsson
Fleury-Bryson

GOAL:

Hellebuyck
Comrie

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Heinola

INJURED: D Pionk (lower body), D Miller (lower-body), LW Niederreiter (lower body), F Namestnikov (lower body)

NEW YORK RANGERS

FORWARDS:

Perreault-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Edström-Trocheck-Cuylle
Kartye-Laba-Sheary
Brodzinski-Pärssinen-Chmelař

DEFENCE:

Gavrikov-Fox
Robertson-Schneider
Vaakanainen-Borgen

GOAL:

Shesterkin
Quick

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Iorio, F Berard

INJURED: F Miller (upper body), RW Raddysh (personal), RW Rempe (thumb)

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo on reaching the 700-game mark and how he got here:

“For me to be an every day player it meant being smart, being responsible, a steady influence back there. A guy that was mistake-free, because that was called upon for my role at that time. I felt like, growing up, I was always a guy that was good two-way. But I think everybody in this room was probably an offensive player on their team. For me, it wasn’t so much about offence taking a back seat. But in San Jose, they needed a presence out there where you weren’t going to be a sore thumb. That’s how I got in the league. I played hard, doing all the little things to help the team win.”

WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON

Mike has a story coming on Jonathan Toews, who spoke today on a number of topics including why he had no interest in moving at the trade deadline and what the future might hold for his hockey career.

Ken will have the game analysis of Jets vs. Rangers from the downtown rink.

You can find both pieces online at winnipegfreepress.com and in Friday’s print edition.