TAMPA – The first objective for the Winnipeg Jets has been accomplished on this four-game trip:
Start with a win.
They accomplished that with a 4-3 victory in New Jersey on Tuesday, improving the club’s record to 21-24-7 and giving the Jets two straight road wins along with a season series sweep of the Devils.
Now the goal is to make it three straight wins overall – and two in a row on the trip – tonight when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Of course, no win comes easy in the National Hockey League, especially against the Lightning who have won six in a row in their home rink and are 33-14-4 this season.
“They’re a good skilled team and they’ve had a lot of success here over the past couple months even with some key guys of theirs missing,” said Dylan Samberg. “For us, we’re just focused on playing quickly and not messing around with the puck too much. Just play simple and to our identity and try to get a win here.”
This road trip was always going to be a challenge given the quality of opponents, so the fact the Jets found two points early on in the trek through the Eastern Conference isn’t a small thing.
“It is going to be a tough trip going into Tampa. Florida and Dallas at the end of it,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel after the win in New Jersey. “So, to get the first two points that is big. Hopefully, that is momentum that carries us through.”
What stood out to Arniel in the win over the Devils was the details. Winnipeg blocked 21 shots and took over the game in the second period with three unanswered goals to build a lead. Overall, the Jets are 9-9-4 against the Eastern Conference this season, but will need to improve that record to continue to climb in the wildcard race in the West.
“They’re one of the hottest teams, if not the hottest team in the league, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing all those things correctly,” Arniel said of Tampa Bay, who are 28-10-2 since the start of November, the third best record in the NHL in that span.
“We just need to be consistent. It has to come back,” continued Arniel. “That game we played (Tuesday), it wasn’t a perfect 60 but a lot of those things we did, whether it was shot-blocking, wall plays, recognizing the right time to do things with the puck — that has to be a constant, especially against Tampa in their building.”
Thursday’s morning skate at Benchmark International Arena showed that the Jets plan to reunite Mark Scheifele, Gabriel Vilardi, and Kyle Connor, something they went to partway through the game against the Devils.
That lethal trio combined on Winnipeg’s first goal against New Jersey just 93 seconds into the game – though it was on a shift where Vilardi hopped on as part of a line change – and then connected again, this time as a permanent line, 3:23 into the second.
Overall, the trio held a 72.7 percent share of shot attempts at five-on-five together and outshot their opposition 10-3.
“Gabe is awesome. We obviously love playing with him,” said Connor. “When he’s going in, and just like anybody that you know puts up with me and Mark, it makes a big difference. And he’s been playing great, and he obviously gave us a boost.”
The full line rushes looked like this:
