The Winnipeg Jets close a four-game road trip tonight with their third meeting of the season against the St. Louis Blues…The Jets lost 4-2 to the Minnesota Wild last night to fall to 1-2-0 on the road trip…After tonight, the Jets return to Winnipeg for games against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday and Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.
Penalty Kill Clicking
The Jets went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill yesterday against Minnesota and have gone 8-for-9 (88.9%) on the penalty kill during the road trip…Winnipeg is tied for sixth in the NHL with a penalty kill operating at 82.2%.
Consecutive Losses
The Jets have lost back-to-back games for the first time this season…The last time the Jets lost back-to-back games in regulation was Feb. 9 vs. STL and Feb. 11 vs. NYR…Winnipeg lost back-to-back games in regulation just five times last season and never lost three games in a row in regulation…The last time that happened was back in the 2016-17 season from Mar. 6-11/17…Since that three-game slide, the Jets have the third-best record in the NHL at 74-29-13.
Against the Central
The Jets are 3-3-0 against Central Division teams this season…The Jets are in the midst of playing three of their last four games in November against Central Division teams after playing just one Central Division team in their previous 11 games…Since the start of the 2016-17 season, the Jets are 37-20-4 against teams within their own division, which is second behind the Nashville Predators (39-17-4)…In that same time frame, Blake Wheeler leads all NHLers in scoring against the Central Division with 75 points (25G, 51A) in 60 games, while Mark Scheifele is second with 70 points (29G, 41A) in 52 games.
Middle of the Road
The Jets are 4-5-0 on the road this season…Despite the sub-.500 record, the Jets are in the top 10 in the NHL in special teams on the road with a power play at 24.2% (6th) and penalty kill at 84.2% (T-5th)…The Jets have played the second least amount of games on the road in the NHL this season with just nine contests, but they are in a stretch of seven of nine games away from Bell MTS Place.
Back-2-Back
Tonight and yesterday mark the third of 10 back-to-back sets the Jets have this season…Winnipeg is 2-1-0 in the first game and 0-2-0 in the second game of back-to-backs this season…Last season, the Jets went 4-3-2 in the first game of back-to-backs and 4-4-1 in the second game…Nineteen of Winnipeg’s 20 games in back-to-back sets this season are on the road.
Slipped Away
The Jets fell to 6-2-2 when leading after the second period with yesterday’s loss to Minnesota…The Jets lead the NHL with four losses (regulation and overtime) when leading after the second period…Last season Winnipeg led the NHL with a 42-1-1 record when leading after the second period.
On a Heater
Patrik Laine extended his goal scoring streak to three games by scoring the first goal of the game yesterday…After scoring three goals in 12 games during October, Laine leads the NHL with 11 goals in nine games in November, which includes a pair of hat tricks (Nov. 1 at FLA, Nov. 19 at VAN)…He notched his eighth power play goal of the season on Wednesday, which is tied for the NHL lead…Laine is also on a four-game point streak (6G, 1A) after registering an assist on Nov. 16 vs. BUF.
Road Warriors
Patrik Laine’s six goals to start the road trip have propelled him to a tie for second in the NHL in road goals with 10…He has also overtaken the team scoring lead on the road with 11 points (10G, 1A) in nine games…Laine is joined by Kyle Connor (5G, 4A), Blake Wheeler (1G, 7A), Dustin Byfuglien (1G, 7A) and Mark Scheifele (2G, 6A) as the Jets top scorers on the road…No other Jets player has more than four points in road games this season…With a plus-one rating, Connor is the only Jets player on the active roster with a plus rating on the road.