Game Notes: Oct. 4 at St. Louis Blues

The Winnipeg Jets embark on their 2018-19 NHL campaign tonight with their season opener on the road against the St. Louis Blues…It’s the first time the Jets are starting on the season on the road since 2015 when the Jets began the 2015-16 campaign in Boston and defeated the Bruins 6-2…Following tonights game, the Jets visit the Dallas Stars on Saturday…Winnipeg’s home opener is slated for Tuesday against the Los Angeles Kings.

Game Notes PDF

Season Openers
The Jets are 9-8-1 all-time in season openers…The Jets franchise is 4-2-0 when starting the season on the road and have won three consecutive season opening games on the road, which have all occurred since relocation in 2011.

Pre-Season Recap
The Jets went 4-3-0 during their seven-game pre-season slate, including 1-2-0 on the road…Two of Winnipeg’s four wins came in overtime…Captain Blake Wheeler led the Jets in scoring in the pre-season with seven points (2G, 5A) in three games…Dustin Byfuglien (3G, 3A) and Mark Scheifele (2G, 4A) also had strong pre-seasons with six points each.

Roster Comparison
Of the 23 players that were on the Jets opening day roster last season, only five are not back with the team this season or starting the season with the Manitoba Moose – Joel Armia (Traded to Montreal), Toby Enstrom (UFA), Steve Mason (Traded to Montreal), Shawn Matthias (UFA) and Tucker Poolman (Manitoba Moose)…Laurent Brossoit (Edmonton), Kyle Connor (Manitoba Moose), Brendan Lemieux (Manitoba Moose), Joe Morrow (Acquired from Montreal) Jack Roslovic (Manitoba Moose) and Kristian Vesalainen (HPK – Liiga) started last season elsewhere…Vesalainen is the only true rookie on the Jets opening day roster that has yet to make his NHL debut…Winnipeg’s average age to start the season is 25.6, compared to 26.1 last season.

Best One Yet!
The Winnipeg Jets posted their best regular season in franchise history in 2017-18, going 52-20-10…The Jets set franchise records for most wins (52) and points (114) in a season…It’s the first time in franchise history the organization surpassed 50 wins and 100 points in a season…The two records were propelled by the Jets winning 11 of their final 12 games of the regular season…Dating back to Mar. 15/17, the Jets have the best record in the NHL at 62-22-10…The 52 wins are also a career high for head coach Paul Maurice, shattering his previous high of 43 wins from the 2014-15 season – the last time the Jets made the playoffs…Three of Maurice’s top five seasons in terms of wins have come as the head coach of the Jets.

Division Rivals
Winnipeg plays three of their first four games of the 2018-19 season against divisional foes…The Jets went 15-9-2 against their Central Division foes last season and are 34-17-4 dating back to the start of 2016-17, which is tied with the Nashville Predators for the best in-division record during the last two seasons…The Jets won four of their first five games and four of their last five games against Central Division teams…Blake Wheeler led the NHL in points against Central Division teams with 35 points (10G, 25A) in 26 games.

Wingman
Blake Wheeler is coming off a career season in which he paced the NHL in 2017-18 with 68 assists in 81 games, which was tied with Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux…He also led the league with 48 primary assists and 45 assists in 41 games at home…The Minnesota native had his best month assist wise in November when he tallied 14 helpers in 14 games…He also enjoyed squaring off against the Atlantic Division, where he had 16 assists in 15 games…From Feb. 9-27, Wheeler had an assist in nine consecutive games (11A), which established a new franchise record.

Goal Scoring Guru
Patrik Laine scored 44 times last season, trailing only Alexander Ovechkin’s NHL-best 49…That was eight more goals for the Finnish winger than his rookie campaign…He also scored eight game winning goals (three more than 2016-17) and an NHL-best 20 power play markers (11 more than ’16-17)…Laine scored in 37 regular season games last year, posting at least one goal in 11 more games than in 2016-17 (26 games).

All He Does is Win
Connor Hellebuyck paced the NHL last season with 44 wins, which also set the record for the most in a season by an American-born goalie…Thirty of those wins were at Bell MTS Place as he tied the NHL record for the most victories by a goaltender on home ice in a season…Hellebuyck ended the 2017-18 season on a nine-game winning streak, which set the franchise record for longest by a netminder.

Jets vs. Blues All-Time Records
Overall: 16-17-5
At Bell MTS Place: 5-5-2
At Enterprise Center: 8-8-2

2017-18 Game Log vs. Blues

2018-19 Game Log vs. Blues

Jets vs. Blues Notes

• The Jets have won eight of the last 10 games against the Blues.
• Winnipeg has outscored St. Louis 31-18 in the 10 games.
• The Jets are 11-10-3 against St. Louis since the franchise relocated to Winnipeg in 2011.
• The Jets are 8-for-29 (29.2%) on the power play in their last eight games against the Blues, but are 1-for-10 (10%) in the power play in their last three trips to St. Louis.
• Winnipeg is 18-for-20 (90.0%) on the penalty kill in their last seven games against St. Louis.

Jets-Blues Connections

• Blues’ assistant captain Alexander Steen was born in Winnipeg. His father, Thomas Steen, played 14 seasons for the original edition of the Winnipeg Jets (1981-95).
• Blues defenceman Joel Edmundson is from Brandon, Man.
• Winnipeg’s Josh Morrissey and St. Louis’ Robby Fabbri won a gold medal together playing for Canada at the 2015 World Junior Championship.
• Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey won a silver medal with St. Louis’ Colton Parayko at the 2017 IIHF World Championship.
• Jets forward Patrik Laine and Blues defenceman Niko Mikkola played together for Finland at the 2016 World Junior Championship, winning a gold medal.
• Jets forward Mark Scheifele and defenceman Josh Morrissey were teammates with Blues forward Brayden Schenn playing for Canada at the 2017 World Championship, winning a silver medal

Upcoming Milestones

Dustin Byfuglien

• Needs two power play points to pass Slava Kozlov (230) for fourth in franchise history.
• Needs one shorthanded assist to tie Marty Reasoner and Patrik Stefan (7) for the second-most shorthanded assists in franchise history

Kyle Connor

• Needs four games played to reach 100 as a member of the Jets

Patrik Laine

• Needs one multi-goal game to pass Dany Heatley and Vyacheslav Kozlov and take sole possession of eighth in multi-goal games in franchise history. They are currently at 13.

Bryan Little

• Needs one even-strength assist to reach 200 for his career.

Tyler Myers

• Needs 10 games played to reach 200 as a member of the Jets.
• Needs one point to pass Frantisek Kaberle (20) and tie Andy Sutton (21) for the seventh-most goals by a defenceman in franchise history.

Mark Scheifele

• Needs two even-strength assists to pass Toby Enstrom (139) for the fifth in franchise history.
• Needs five faceoff wins to reach 2,600 for his NHL career.

Jacob Trouba

• Needs five assists to reach 100 for his NHL career.

Blake Wheeler

• Needs five points to reach 500 points as a member of the Jets franchise.
• Needs one multi-goal game to pass Marian Hossa and take sole possession of third in multi-goal games in franchise history. They are both currently at 21.
• Needs one shorthanded point to reach 15 as a member of the Jets and establish the franchise record for most shorthanded points. He is currently tied with Eric Perrin and Marian Hossa.
• Needs one shorthanded assist to tie Marty Reasoner and Patrik Stefan (7) for the second-most shorthanded assists in franchise history.

Recent Transactions

Oct. 1 – Reassigned F – Michael Spacek to the Manitoba Moose (AHL)
Oct. 2 – Reassigned D – Logan Stanley and D – Tucker Poolman to the Manitoba Moose (AHL)
Oct. 2 – Reassigned D – Simon Bourque from the Manitoba Moose (AHL) to the Jacksonville Icemen (ECHL)
Oct. 2 – Moved F – Nic Petan to non-roster status