Focusing on the final countdown

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This article was published 27/03/2025 (193 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Alex Iafallo kept his words per minute down to a minimum, but he certainly got his point across just as effectively.

The Winnipeg Jets winger had just been asked a question about what the focus of the final 10 games of the regular season was going to be and he kept his answer concise.

“Just keep our aggressiveness, don’t change a thing,” said Iafallo. “Obviously, the playoffs are after that, so we’ve got to keep doing things right and do them well.”

The Jets certainly did a lot of things well during Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime win and they’ll be looking to try and carry that over into Friday’s matchup with the New Jersey Devils.

After punching their ticket to the post-season on Tuesday, the Jets will continue to work on the next task, which is to try and hold off the Dallas Stars in the pursuit of the Central Division banner.

“You still have a job to do,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “Like I mentioned the other night, we checked off one box. We still have another one. The next one is to win the division. So that’s what we’re after.”

As of Thursday’s NHL action, the Jets held a six-point edge over the Stars, who were facing the Calgary Flames at press time.

As of Friday, both the Jets and Stars will have 10 games left in the regular season — including a fourth and final head-to-head meeting in Texas on Apr. 10 that could have a big impact on the final standings.

“It’s always going to be something like that. It’s fun though. It’s why we play the game,” said Iafallo. “We’ve just got to keep playing our game and good things will happen. I know we’ve got a game against them (the Stars), so we’ve got to keep going down the stretch here.”

The jockeying for position in the Central Division is ongoing and there’s a chance that five of the eight clubs could qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Not only are the Jets and Stars battling, the revamped Colorado Avalanche have been on fire and the St. Louis Blues are the hottest team in the NHL — winning seven consecutive games to put the heat on the Minnesota Wild in the chase for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

That means scoreboard watching is part of the daily ritual for some players.

“I like to watch hockey and follow what other teams are doing,” said Jets defenceman Logan Stanley. “I mean, yeah, Dallas and Colorado are both playing great and good hockey teams. We know what kind of team we have in here, though. We’re going to finish out as best we can. And we’d like to win every game. Whether that happens or not, who knows. But we’re just trying to make sure our game is good going into the playoffs.”

Iafallo said this was the first time in his career that he’s been on a team that was in first place this late in a season.

But the eight-year veteran recognizes there’s plenty of work left to be done to ensure the Jets stay on top of both the Central Division and Western Conference.

“We’re not getting too high or too low. I know we’ve said that a couple of times throughout the season, but you can feel it,” said Iafallo. “Everybody puts their work in and knows their job.”

“It’s fun though. It’s why we play the game.”–Alex Iafallo

A big part of that job for the Jets has been the ability to debrief and then look ahead to the next opponent.

“As big as that game was the other night, guess what? There’s another big one coming Friday,” said Arniel. “Dallas isn’t leaving our rear-view mirror, so we’ve just got to keep plowing forward and that’s what our group has been really good at, just focusing on what’s next.”

Iafallo mentioned resilience as the Jets’ best trait and when that was relayed to Arniel, the bench boss said that was on his list and it could find its way to the top as early as next week.

Arniel also wasn’t interested in taking a guess at how many wins or points it might take to secure top spot.

“We’ve just got to beat Jersey on Friday,” said Arniel. “Start there.”

Arniel may not be looking ahead, but that won’t prevent others from doing so.

A quick look at the schedule shows that the Jets have an even split of five home games and five road games to close out the regular season, with six of them coming against teams currently above the playoff line.

For the Stars, they’ve got six games at home and four on the road, with just two of them coming against teams currently holding a post-season berth.

There are more pressing matters for Arniel and his coaching staff to sort through.

The Jets are still test driving some line combinations, most of whom showed well on Tuesday.

Another area for the Jets to tighten up relates to special teams.

The power-play woes of late are well documented, with a two-for-21 stretch pushing the Jets to second in the NHL (29.7 per cent), behind the Vegas Golden Knights (30.1).

On the flip side, the penalty kill is showing signs of progress, though Arniel didn’t want to get into the specifics when it comes to some of the subtle adjustments his team has made in that department — saying it was “double top secret.”

“As big as that game was the other night, guess what? There’s another big one coming Friday.”–Head coach Scott Arniel

“We looked at some things that we thought might be able to help us in that department and implemented them and we’re getting some results,” said Arniel, referring to some homework the coaching staff did during the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off,” said Arniel.

“There are some goals still going (in) but, at the end of the day, there are some changes that we made from what we started with in the first half of the year. The guys are grasping it and making sure that they’re on the right page. That’s the biggest thing for me with the penalty kill, when the four guys are all on the same page. When one moves, they all move in cohesive pressure or it might be on an entry or it might be on a retrieval and trying to get the puck down the ice. It seems to be a lot better in that department.”

The Jets remain mostly in the middle of the pack on the PK (14th overall among 32 teams going into Thursday’s games), but that’s a modest improvement with the potential to creep into the top-10 with a strong finish.

In the first meeting of the season, the Jets thumped the Devils 6-1 on NHL trade deadline day.

Even with the Devils sitting comfortably in third place in the Metropolitan Division, you can expect they will be looking for a stronger showing in the rematch.

It’s also the first game back in Winnipeg for defenceman Brenden Dillon, who signed with the Devils as an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Dillon spent three seasons with the Jets after coming over in a trade with the Capitals and he was a popular player among the fan base, so you can expect he will get a warm reception.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld