FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: It takes a certain type of player to be able to skate on the top line with Connor and Mark Scheifele.
Gabe Vilardi has repeatedly shown he has what it takes, but Alex Iafallo is no slouch, either. He demonstrated that once again on Saturday, doing a lot of the necessary dirty work, including digging pucks out of the corner and winning net-front battles while his two highly skilled linemates have time and space to make plays and do damage.
The game-winning goal by Iafallo was textbook for him — quite literally paying the price by taking a Scheifele slapper to the mid-section, then shaking it off to spin and fire home the loose puck. Arniel has tried to find balance in his lineup by, at times, moving Vilardi to the second line (where he is currently skating with Adam Lowry and Cole Perfetti), and Iafallo is more than holding up his end of the deal. His 25 points this year (11G, 14A) are tied for fifth on the team with Cole Perfetti.
What more can be said about Scheifele and Connor, who truly are Winnipeg’s dynamic offensive duo. Both players are now up to 30 goals — just the fourth time they’ve done that in the same season — and it’s almost eerie how much their production mirrors each other.
Consider this: Scheifele and Connor both played all 82 games last year and all 65 contests this year, for a total of 147 each. Connor has 71 goals and 100 assists in that span. Scheifele has 69 goals and 99 assists. It’s easy to see why Arniel is loath to split them up.
Jonathan Toews looked to be heating up in mid-January and scored a goal in four straight games.
However, he’s now in a 19-game drought, with only 23 total shots in that lengthy span. The 37-year-old — who told me this past week he has yet to make a decision on whether he wants to keep playing for another season and will re-evaluate when this one is over — has only three assists since he last lit the lamp exactly two months ago on Jan. 15.
Toews did have a great chance on Thursday night when Isak Rosen sprung him on a breakaway, so perhaps his fortunes are about to change. In what has been a common theme throughout this year, the Jets sure could use some secondary scoring.
Remember that New Year’s Day meltdown by the Jets in Toronto, where Comrie was beaten six times on 30 shots — including the late-game winner by Auston Matthews — as the Maple Leafs rallied for a 6-5 victory?
It’s hard to believe Comrie has only made four starts since then — winning them all and allowing just five combined goals.
He’s been really solid, even if he’s had to wait huge gaps of time between starts which were further exacerbated by the three-week Olympic break. Comrie has played just one game since the beginning of February, and that was back on Feb. 25 in Vancouver (a 3-2 overtime win).
KEN SAYS: One of the under-the-radar storylines of Saturday’s win was the play of Jets captain Adam Lowry in the difficult matchup against Avalanche centre Nathan MacKinnon and his dynamic line.
Lowry, who had 24 shifts for 20:14 of ice time, which was tops among Jets forwards, helped keep MacKinnon off the board at even strength, which is no easy task for a guy who is up to 109 points on the season after setting up a six-on-five goal with 1:36 left in regulation.
Although it’s been a frustrating season offensively as Lowry (who has one assist in his past seven games and four goals and 17 points in 53 games) worked his way back from off-season hip surgery, this is the type of impact he can make even when he’s held off the scoresheet.
There aren’t many nights when Lowry finishes with more ice time than Scheifele, but this was one of them and it had plenty to do with the matchup game.
Speaking of the Lowry line, Arniel tossed Cole Perfetti over the boards along with Alex Iafallo to try to protect the one-goal cushion after the Martin Necas goal.
That hasn’t been common practice with Perfetti, but the winger showed his defensive acumen and was able to steal the puck from MacKinnon in the defensive zone before sealing the game with an empty-netter that gave him nine goals for the season.
Perfetti’s offensive challenges early in the campaign after returning from an ankle injury have been well documented, but he’s on the verge of hitting double digits in goals for a third consecutive season.
Blues right-winger Jimmy Snuggerud, who impressed during the series with the Jets last April, has been on a hot streak of late.
Although he was held off the scoresheet on Friday, Snuggerud has five goals and 10 points during the past seven games, moving him to 15 goals and 34 points in 54 games.
Snuggerud is second on the Blues in goals behind Thomas and fourth in points, which is impressive for a rookie with 68 NHL games on his resume — including the epic seven-game playoff series.
He has 21 shots on goal during that span, so limiting his looks will be something for the Jets to key on defensively.
PROJECTED LINES
WINNIPEG JETS
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Heinola
INJURED: D Pionk (lower body), D Miller (lower-body), LW Niederreiter (lower body), F Namestnikov (lower body)
- Holloway-Thomas-Snuggerud
- Neighbours-Buchnevich-Kyrou
- Toropchenko-Finley-Sundqvist
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Kessel, D Tucker, LW Walker, LW Drouin, RW Berggren
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
Jets left-winger Kyle Connor on being the longtime linemate of Mark Scheifele:
“It’s a constant work in progress and it’s something that we both take a lot of pride in, pushing each other and working at just tons of different areas where we can get better. We constantly talk to each other about what we’re seeing. And, obviously, we’ve been able to play together and kind of build that chemistry and work with each other.”
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON
Ken and Mike are on the scene and will provide double coverage, with Ken handling the game analysis and Mike providing an additional piece, which can be found in Monday’s paper and online at winnipegfreepress.com.
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