The Winnipeg Jets play their final game before the Christmas break tonight against the Vancouver Canucks to conclude a three-game road trip…The Jets evened their record to 1-1 on the trip with a 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night…After a four-day Christmas break, the Jets return to action at Bell MTS Place on Dec. 27 against the Calgary Flames.
Bring It
The Jets allowed 44 shots on Thursday against San Jose to improve to 5-0 this season when their opponent has 40 shots or more…As a team, the Jets have a .946 save percentage in the five games (Hellebuyck – .940; Brossoit – .955)…The Jets have been outshot 221-149 in those five games, but have outscored their opponents 23-12, including scoring five goals in four of the games…The Jets have a 15.4 shooting percentage, while their opponents only have a 5.4 shooting percentage…In three of the five games, the Jets have registered 26 or less shots.
Behaved
The Jets were assessed 13 minutes in penalties on Thursday to end a five-game streak of having six penalty minutes or less…Winnipeg had 279 penalty minutes in its first 22 games (12.7 per game) of the season, but have taken only 79 minutes in penalties in their last 13 games (6.1 per game) and have double digit penalties just twice.
Party in the Pacific
The Jets are 6-2-1 against Pacific Division opponents this season and are in the midst of four consecutive games against Pacific Division opponents…Winnipeg was a dominant 17-4-2 against Pacific Division foes last season and are on a 17-3-3 run in their last 23 games versus the Pacific…Mark Scheifele (4G, 7A) leads the Jets in scoring against the Pacific Division this season with 11 points in nine games, while Dustin Byfuglien has 10 points (2G, 8A) in eight games…Patrik Laine has seven goals in nine games against the Pacific Division this season.
On the Road Again
After playing four of five games at home, the Jets are in the midst of five of seven games on the road where they are 10-6-0 this season…The Jets’ five-game road winning streak came to an end on Tuesday, which matched the franchise record Winnipeg set last year from Feb. 23-Mar. 8/18, but the Jets have still won six of their last seven road games…Blake Wheeler (2G, 18A) leads the Jets in scoring on the road with 20 points in 16 games.
Wonderful Time of Year
The Jets have posted a 9-2-0 record in December to climb into first place in the Western Conference…Winnipeg ranks in the top five of several categories this month, including being tied for the most wins.
| Jets in Top 5 in December | |
| Stat | NHL Rank |
| Wins – 9 | T-1st |
| Points – 18 | 2nd |
| Goals For – 43 | 2nd |
| Shots For – 375 | 2nd |
| Power Play Goals – 11 | T-1st |
| Faceoffs Won – 330 | 3rd |
December Leader
Mark Scheifele, who was selected as the NHL’s second of the week last week, leads the NHL in scoring in December with 19 points (8G, 11A) in 11 games…He has a point in eight of Winnipeg’s 11 games this month and has multiple points in seven of those eight games…Scheifele has climbed to fifth in NHL scoring with 48 points (21G, 37A) in 35 games.
Wingman
Blake Wheeler had three assists against the Sharks on Thursday and is tied for the NHL lead with 42 assists in 35 games this season…His five three-assist games this season are tied for first in the NHL…Wheeler has 110 assists during the last two seasons, which is the most in the NHL, and he is the only player in the NHL to have more than 100 assists during that time frame…Wheeler has 29 primary assists, which is second in the NHL…Wheeler’s 425 career assists is second among right wingers since his rookie season of 2008-09…He has reached 40 assists for the fourth consecutive season and sixth time in his career.
Great Dane
Nikolaj Ehlers scored his second hat trick of the season on Thursday and has 23 points (14G, 9A) in his last 22 games after netting four points (1G, 3A) in his first 13 games of the season…He is one of five players in the NHL to have more than one hat trick this season, which is led by Patrik Laine’s three hat tricks…This is the first time the Jets have had multiple players with multiple hat tricks in the same season since relocation and the first time in franchise history since the 2006-07 season when Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa each had two hat tricks for the Atlanta Thrashers…The franchise record for most hat tricks in a season is six, which happened during the 2000-01 season and the 2018-19 Jets already have five hat tricks through the first 35 games.
Jets vs. Canucks All-Time Records
Overall: 14-11-3
At Bell MTS Place: 8-0-1
At Rogers Arena: 5-7-2
2018-19 Game Log vs. Canucks
| Date | Location | Score | Rec | Scorers | Goaltender |
| Oct. 18 | Winnipeg | 4-1 W | 1-0-0 (4-2-1) | Laine (3), Little (2), Copp (1), Byfuglien (1) | Hellebuyck (26 sv, 1 ga) |
| Nov. 19 | Vancouver | 6-3 W | 2-0-0 (12-5-2) | Little (4), Scheifele (11), Connor (10), Laine (9, 10, 11) | Hellebuyck (22 sv, 3 ga) |
| Dec. 22 | Vancouver |
Jets vs. Canucks Notes
- The Jets won all three games against the Canucks last season and have won seven in a row…The Jets can sweep the season series with the Canucks for the second straight season with a win tonight.
- Winnipeg has won 11 of the last 12 games against the Canucks and have points in 14 of the last 16 meetings (12-2-2).
- The Jets have held the Canucks to two goals or less in nine of the last 11 meetings.
- Winnipeg is 25-for-27 (92.6%) on the penalty kill in their last 10 games against the Canucks.
- Mathieu Perreault leads the Jets in career scoring against the Canucks with 16 points (4G, 12A) in 18 games.
- Patrik Laine has seven goals in seven games against Canucks.
- Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has faced Vancouver six times, going 5-1-0 with a 1.67 goals-against average and .938 save percentage.
Jets-Canucks Connections
- The Jets’ Brandon Tanev and Vancouver’s Christopher Tanev are brothers.
- Canucks defencemen Alexander Edler (2006-08) and Christopher Tanev (2010-11) played for the Manitoba Moose when the Moose were the AHL affiliate for the Canucks.
- Jets forward and former Barrie Colt Mark Scheifele faced the Canucks’ Bo Horvat in the 2013 OHL Final when the Colts fell to the London Knights in seven games, 4-3.
- Canucks forward Brandon Sutter played for Jets coach Paul Maurice when they both were with the Carolina Hurricanes organization from 2008 to 2012.
- Jets forward Mathieu Perreault was teammates with Canucks forward Jay Beagle when they played for the Washington Capitals from 2009-13.
- Jets forward Kyle Connor was teammates with Canucks forward Tyler Motte at the University of Michigan during the 2015-16 season when they won a BIG-10 championship.
- Jets forward Andrew Copp also played with Motte at the University of Michigan from 2013-2015.
Upcoming Milestones
Dustin Byfuglien
- Needs five more games played to reach 600 as a member of the Jets franchise.
- Needs one shorthanded assist to tie Marty Reasoner and Patrik Stefan (7) for the second-most shorthanded assists in franchise history.
Kyle Connor
- Needs 10 points to reach 100 for his NHL career.
Nikolaj Ehlers
- Needs four penalty minutes to reach 100 for his career.
Connor Hellebuyck
- Needs one win to reach 100 for his NHL career.
Bryan Little
- Needs four points to reach 500 for his NHL career.
Josh Morrissey
- Needs three games played to reach 200 for his NHL career.
Tyler Myers
- Needs eight points to reach 100 as a member of the Jets.
Blake Wheeler
- 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 assist to tie Marty Reasoner and Patrik Stefan (7) for the second-most shorthanded assists in franchise history.