Winnipeg Jets at New York Rangers

NEW YORK — On this occasion, the Winnipeg Jets will enter Madison Square Garden as the headliner and not the opening act.

Riding a six-game winning streak and sporting a 14-1 record that set the NHL mark for the best start of all time, the Jets open a three-game road trip against Eastern Conference opponents with a marquee matchup with the New York Rangers — who captured the Presidents’ Trophy last season.

The Jets are coming off their most complete game of the campaign, a 4-1 dismantling of the Dallas Stars. The Rangers blanked the Detroit Red Wings 4-0 on Saturday, but are just one game removed from a disappointing 6-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

“It was a good team game and we’re going to carry that momentum into (the game),” said Jets defenceman Neal Pionk, who talked about the importance of regrouping after a shoddy effort in a 1-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

“You’ve got to wipe the slate clean. Whether you win or you lose. We know we didn’t play well against Colorado. Our start (against the Stars) was huge. Those first 10 minutes might have decided the game.”

Winnipeg Jets' Nino Niederreiter (62) and Colorado Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon (29) collide during their Nov. 7 matchup. Jets won 1-0. (John Woods / The Canadian Press files)

Winnipeg Jets’ Nino Niederreiter (62) and Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon (29) collide during their Nov. 7 matchup. Jets won 1-0. (John Woods / The Canadian Press files)

Connor Hellebuyck was named the NHL’s first star of the week and is set for his 13th start in 16 games, while the Rangers will counter with Igor Shesterkin, who is starting for the 11th time.

The Jets will make one change on defence, inserting Haydn Fleury for Logan Stanley.

Stanley had played 11 consecutive games on the third pairing with Colin Miller but he’s been sidelined with a “mid-body” injury and isn’t on the road trip.

Stanley will be re-evaluated when the Jets return home to Winnipeg.

“He’s been dealing with something for the last probably week-and-a-half or two weeks,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel, noting the injury was not related to the knee issue that kept him out of the bulk of training camp. “We just felt it was time to shut it down. He was playing in a lot of pain.”

Fellow Jets blue-liner Ville Heinola (ankle) has been cleared for contact, though it’s unlikely he will be an option to suit up on the road trip.

“It’s (about) conditioning, getting into these practices and getting run into, getting more into the game-type looks,” said Arniel. “We’ll see. I’m not going to rush it here.”

Fleury hasn’t played since Oct. 18 against the San Jose Sharks, but he had gotten off to a strong start before the lengthy run of healthy scratches.

“I’ll jump in and try to pick up where we left off,” said Fleury, who found out on Monday that he’d be returning to the lineup. “(The Rangers) have a lethal power play. They’re good in their building, so that will be a big challenge for us. We’ll try to limit the penalties and just stick to what we do best. We’ve shown that our best hockey is good enough to win in this league.”

It’s also a homecoming of sorts for Arniel, who spent five seasons as an associate coach with the Rangers from 2013-18 under former Manitoba Moose head coach Alain Vigneault.

During that span, the Rangers advanced to the Stanley Cup final in 2014 and lost in the Eastern Conference final in 2015.

Here’s some other information to get you set for the showdown in the world’s most famous arena.

—Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

FROM THE PRESS BOX

KEN SAYS: The masked men will be under the spotlight in this one. Hellebuyck has been sensational. He’s allowed one goal over his past three starts and change and nearly posted a third consecutive shutout.

Shesterkin had a rough outing in the aforementioned loss to the Sabres, as he was pulled after giving up five goals on 12 shots on goal.

That early pull inflated his goals-against average to 2.61, but he’s sporting a .920 save percentage (which leaves him fifth in that category — one that Hellebuyck leads at .935).

We’ve said previously that while the Jets’ fourth line had been playing fairly well, offence had been tough to come by, but Rasmus Kupari opened the scoring against the Stars after forcing Matt Dumba to turn the puck over to Alex Iafallo.

It was just the second goal scored by the fourth line at five-on-five, but it was an important one.

Iafallo added his second power play marker of the season in the contest to provide an additional boost on the secondary scoring front.

The Rangers have won three of the past four games, but they’ve been searching for their identity to a certain degree.

They continue to be led offensively by the Bread Man Artemi Panarin, who has already collected 10 goals and 21 points in 13 games. Panarin has enjoyed plenty of success against the Jets during his career, producing eight goals and 27 points in 22 games, so you can be sure the visitors will be paying close attention when he’s on the ice.

Former Jets blue-liner Jacob Trouba is in his sixth season with the Broadway Blueshirts and second as captain of the Original Six club. He’s got five assists in 13 games and is one of the fiercest open-ice hitters in the NHL.

The Rangers back end also features former Brandon Wheat Kings captain Braden Schneider, who continues to work his way up the depth chart after being chosen 19th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft.

MIKE SAYS: Greetings from Las Vegas, where my wife and I are enjoying some holiday time while Kenny is hard at work handling this road trip. I’ll be watching the game online — the 4 p.m. Pacific time puck drop makes it a desert matinee for me — and I’m fascinated to see how the Jets perform under the bright lights of Broadway.

Given my current surroundings, I couldn’t help but notice the Jets are currently being given odds in the range of 16-1 to 20-1 to win the Stanley Cup, which has them just inside the Top 10 in most sports books.

I’m a bit surprised they’re not higher, considering Winnipeg is the No. 1 team in the league right now. Then again, the Jets opened the season in the 26-1 to 30-1 range, which was pretty much the middle of the hockey pack.

They have made a jump thanks to the 14-1-0 start, but you get the sense Vegas isn’t totally sold on them just yet.

Of course, that’s just how the Jets probably want it. This group seems to thrive on folks either overlooking them or counting them out, which certainly has fuelled this historic start to the season.

Odds are, they’re bound to start hitting some adversity soon, but bet against them at your own peril.*

(*Note: The above is simply a metaphor and for information purposes only! I loathe how gambling ads and collaborations have infiltrated sports broadcasts/coverage, and I can assure you that will not happen here with me).

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

FORWARDS:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-Iafallo

DEFENCE:

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley/Fleury-Miller

GOAL:

Hellebuyck
Comrie

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Coghlan, D Fleury/Stanley, F Gustafsson

INJURED: D Heinola (ankle)

NEW YORK RANGERS

FORWARDS:

Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafreniere
Kreider-Trocheck-Smith
Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko
Edstrom-Carrick-Vesey

DEFENCE:

Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Schneider

GOAL:

Shesterkin
Quick

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Mancini, F Brodzinski

INJURIES: None

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Jets defenceman and former Ranger Neal Pionk on the atmosphere at Madison Square Garden:

“It’s always special coming to MSG, whether you played here or not.”

WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON

Ken is on the three-game road trip and will provide game analysis from MSG.

He also took a walk down memory lane with Jets head coach Scott Arniel to reflect on his five seasons with the Rangers as an associate coach and dig into the injury updates for Stanley and Heinola. You can read that coverage in Wednesday’s print edition and online at winnipegfreepress.com.