Utah Hockey Club at Winnipeg Jets

Welcome to the latest installment of Jets 2.0 versus Jets 1.0. Well, at least in theory.

Technically, the ghosts of Winnipeg’s NHL past are gathering dust in the desert these days, since the relocation to Salt Lake City came with a clean slate in terms of hockey history. Memo to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: Bring those records back where they belong!

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However, there’s still plenty of familiar faces when it comes to the artists formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes as we get our first taste of Jets 2.0 vs Utah 1.0.

“Obviously a lot of the same players. But the big thing in terms of watching them play and looking at their stats and analytics, the defensive part of the game is really good,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said following the morning skate.

“It’s been a lot better and it’s an area that they don’t give you a whole lot, so you’ve got to work for it. Obviously, they’ve taken some time and done a lot of work with it. It’s going to mean that we have to work to get our space and get inside ice. It’s not going to be easy once we get in.”

The Jets have at least been making it look easy so far, with 11 wins in 12 games to sit on top of the NHL standings, along with a league-best 59 goals. Arniel is sticking with the same lineup as the one that kicked off a four-game homestand Sunday afternoon with a 7-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Winnipeg Jets left wing Alex Iafallo (9) celebrates his third-period goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning with teammate Vladislav Namestnikov (7) during Sunday’s game. (Fred Greenslade /The Canadian Press files)

Connor Hellebuyck versus Karel Vejmelka is the goaltending matchup.

Winnipeg is 3-0-0 so far against the Central Division, with three one-goal victories in games against Chicago, Minnesota and St. Louis. The next three are against their closest rivals, with Colorado and Dallas following tonight’s tilt against Utah.

“They’ve got a lot of skill. They’re talented. We’ve played against them the last couple of years in Arizona and we knew exactly what we’re going to get,” said Jets forward Cole Perfetti.

“They’ve got a lot of young talent and a lot of guys that can make a lot of plays. You gotta be careful with that. We’ve got to stick to our game, play a solid defensive game and offence from there because there’s a lot of offensive weapons on their side. It’s going to be fun to play against them. It’s going to be a good game.”

Here’s some other information to get you set.

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FROM THE PRESS BOX

MIKE SAYS: Kyle Connor hasn’t just upped his on-ice game, as proven by his sizzling start to the year with points in all 12 contests (19 in total to lead the team). There’s also been a noticeable growth and maturity off the ice when it comes to things like leadership and dealing with us in the media.

Take, for example, this very thoughtful answer he gave this morning when I asked him how his club appears to have really embraced the “good defence can lead to good offence” mentality that every team wants in theory but few actually do with any real consistency.

“It’s not something that happened overnight. It’s something that we worked on for years now,” Connor began, before really pulling back the curtain.

“You can tell this core that’s been together, every single year we meet with management, we meet with each other. How can we get better? That’s been the main focus. How can we get better as a group and improve? It’s in this group, we know we have a championship team in this group. It’s not always a straight line to the top. You’ve got to learn, you’ve got to develop. You’re kind of seeing that here. It’s a pretty motivated group. I think Arnie does a good job with not letting us get happy with where we’re at.”

I’m not a huge fan of canned, cliché-type quotes from athletes. This was definitely not one of them.

Connor, by the way, was sporting quite the shiner under his right eye, courtesy of the unpenalized hit-from-behind that Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov gave him late in Sunday’s game, which drove his face into Lightning defenceman Erik Cernak’s helmet. I couldn’t believe that wasn’t called, but then again the men in stripes had a dreadful afternoon. Connor, fortunately, was cleared by concussion spotters — and he wasn’t quite as forthcoming with his soundbites when asked what he thought of the play.

“I don’t want to get into whether it was dirty or not,” he said. “I’ve watched it a couple times but you guys can have your interpretation on that.”

KEN SAYS: Seven goals from seven different goal scorers was the latest example of the depth the Jets have shown while moving to the top of the NHL in goals per game (4.92). In exactly half of their games (six of 12), the Jets have recorded six or more goals. That total is already bonkers — and will be more than some teams hit over the course of an entire season, even with 70 games left on the schedule.

By chipping in two more assists on Sunday, Josh Morrissey moved to 15 points on the season, which leaves him behind only Cale Makar among NHL D-men. Neal Pionk sits third as the Jets continue to get offence from the defence corps. Morrissey has recorded at least a point in nine of the 12 games and has five multi-point games so far.

We’ve talked plenty about the Jets’ top-ranked power play and the importance of having both units contributing. The numbers support that as the top unit has eight goals (including four from Connor) and the second unit has seven (including three from Perfetti).

It’s our first look at the Utah HC. They haven’t lacked offensive talent the past few seasons, and if head coach Andre Tourigny can help them commit to defending, they should be in the battle for a wild card spot.

The franchise made a commitment to Dylan Guenther this offseason, inking the talented forward to a lucrative extension despite a limited number of NHL games on his resume. Having had the chance to see him at his best in the Western Hockey League playoffs with the Edmonton Oil Kings in a series against the Winnipeg Ice a few years ago, it’s not a surprise to see him growing into a top-line role. He’s got a wicked shot and is tied for the team lead in goals (six) with Clayton Keller, who leads Utah HC in points (12 points in 12 games, as he makes a push to suit up for Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-off.

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Jets forward Kyle Connor on the Central Division:

“It’s a great division. You look top to bottom, you’ve got teams up and coming, you’ve got some veteran teams up there like the Stars and Colorado that have been there multiple years. We like to think we’re part of that group as well. At the same time you’re playing a team three, four times, you get playoff series with the way our playoff structure is organized, you’re going to get some rivalries and exchanges. I think that’s just the nature of the beast.”

WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON

Mike has a Jets notebook coming today which focuses on a number of items, including Connor speaking out about Nikita Kucherov’s questionable hit, Perfetti being trusted in late-game situations, internal power play competition, injury updates and more. Ken will have the game analysis from the downtown rink tonight. You can find both pieces online at winnipegfreepress.com and in Wednesday’s print edition.

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