The Winnipeg Jets begin a four-game, international road trip tonight against the Detroit Red Wings…Winnipeg fell 4-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night to end a six-game homestand with a 4-1-1 record…The road trip continues Saturday night in Toronto before the Jets head to Finland to play the Florida Panthers in Helsinki on Nov. 1 and 2.
Dominating the East
Tonight is the second of five consecutive games for the Jets against an Eastern Conference team…While the Jets are 1-1-0 against Eastern Conference teams this season, Winnipeg went 19-7-6 against the Eastern Conference last season, including a 10-3-3 record versus the Atlantic Division and 9-4-3 record against the Metropolitan Division…Blake Wheeler led the Jets with 37 points (10G, 27A) in 31 games against the Eastern Conference, which was tied for fourth among Western Conference players last season…Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck went 15-3-5 versus the East.
Best for Last
The Jets have scored 17 goals in third periods this season, which is the most in the NHL…Winnipeg has allowed 13 third period goals, making it an NHL-high 30 combined third period goals in games the Jets have played this season…Winnipeg’s third period scoring has been spread out with 12 different players scoring the 17 goals…Bryan Little leads the Jets with three third period goals, two of which have been game-winning goals.
Taking the First One
Winnipeg has been assessed the first penalty of the game in seven consecutive games, dating back to Oct. 11 at NSH…The Jets have successfully killed six of the seven minors…The Jets have been assessed 37 penalty minutes in first periods this season, which is the second most in the NHL…Winnipeg leads the NHL with 61 penalty minutes in second periods and are second with 58 penalty minutes in third periods.
Feeling the Power
The Jets scored a power play goal in all six games of the homestand, going 7-for-18 (38.9%)…Winnipeg is 30.4% on the power play this season, which is fourth in the NHL…Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine lead the Jets with three power play goals this season.
Streaky
Blake Wheeler had two assists against Toronto to extend his point streak to four games (1G, 4A), which is the longest scoring streak by a member of the Jets this season…Mark Scheifele (3G, 3A), Kyle Connor (4A), and Jacob Trouba (1G, 4A) are on three-game point streaks.
Faceoff Wizard
Adam Lowry won eight of his 13 faceoffs against Toronto on Wednesday and is tied for 10th in the NHL with a 58.6% faceoff winning percentage…At age 25, Lowry is the youngest player in the NHL’s top 10 for faceoff winning percentage…He has won more than 50% of his faceoffs in four consecutive games and seven of his last eight games.
Carrying the Load
Mark Scheifele is fifth among NHL forwards with an average of 22:40 TOI per game, which is third on the Jets behind defenceman Dustin Byfuglien (24:42) and Josh Morrissey (23:28)…Scheifele took 29 of the 44 faceoffs in the game on Wednesday and leads the NHL with 228 faceoffs taken this season.
First One
Nikolaj Ehlers scored his first goal of the season on Wednesday, ending an 11-game goalless drought dating back to last season…With Ehlers’ tally, the only Jets forwards on the roster that haven’t scored a goal this season are Jack Roslovic and Brendan Lemieux.