The Winnipeg Jets play the first of two home games this week tonight when they face the Minnesota Wild…The Jets went 1-2-0 on their recent three-game road trip, which ended with a 4-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday night…Winnipeg plays the Nashville Predators on Friday night in the second game of the two-game homestand.
At Home
Winnipeg has the second-best home record in the NHL this season at 21-7-4…The
Jets have points in 10 of their past 11 home games (8-1-2), which included a seven-game
winning streak from Jan. 6-Feb. 2…The Jets have the best power play at home in
the NHL this season at 32.0%, but have gone four consecutive home games without
a power play goal (0-for-13)…Winnipeg’s 31 power play goals at home this
season is tied for second in the NHL…The Jets have a 53-13-6 record at Bell MTS
Place during the past two seasons, making it the toughest building in the NHL
for opposing teams to play…The Jets have scored 122 goals at home this season,
which is third in the NHL, and have outscored their opposition 102-52 in their
21 wins.
Central Foes
The Jets are 10-9-0 against Central Division teams this season…Since the
start of the 2016-17 season, the Jets are 44-26-4 against Central Division teams,
which is second in the NHL…In that same time frame, Blake Wheeler leads all
NHLers in scoring against the Central Division with 93 points (27G, 66A) in 74
games, while Mark Scheifele is second with 85 points (34G, 51A) in 66 games.
Finding the Power
After going seven games without a power play goal (0-for-19), the Jets have
scored a power play goal in three consecutive games (4-for-12, 33.3%)…Winnipeg
is fourth in the NHL this season with a 25.3% power play percentage…The Jets have
scored a power play goal in 37 of their 62 games this season…Winnipeg’s 27 wins
this season when scoring a power play goal is second in the NHL.
Time Travellers
The Jets are in a stretch of six games in three different time zones and play
consecutive games in the same time zone just once…The Jets played the three
games of their recent road trip in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones before
returning home to the Central Time Zone this week for two games and then going
to the Eastern Time Zone for four games.
Deal I
In their first trade of deadline day, the Jets acquired forward Kevin Hayes
from the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Brendan Lemieux, a first-round
pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL
Draft…Hayes, 26, has played 51 games for the
Rangers this season and has 42 points (14G, 28A)…The Dorchester, Mass. native
has played 361 career games, all with the New York Rangers, recording 216
points (87G, 129A)…He has also played in 34 career playoff games, posting 10
points (2G, 8A)…Hayes was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round
(24th overall) in the 2010 NHL Draft.
Deal II-VI
The Jets made five other trades yesterday on deadline day…They reacquired
forward Matt Hendricks from the Minnesota Wild…Hendricks played 60 games with
the Jets last season, tallying 13 points (5G, 8A)…The Jets also acquired
forward Par Lindholm from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for forward Nic
Petan…The Jets added two defencemen when they acquired Bogan Kiselevich from
the Florida Panthers for a 2021 seventh-round draft pick, and Nathan Beaulieu
from the Buffalo Sabres for a 2019 sixth-round draft pick…Winnipeg also
acquired forward Alex Broadhurst from the Columbus Blue Jackets for future
considerations and he will remain with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.
Heavy Hitter
Dmitry Kulikov set a career high with 10 hits against Arizona on Sunday…He
matched Brandon Tanev (Jan. 4 at PIT) for the most hits by a member of the Jets
in a game this season…Kulikov’s previous high for hits in a game was seven, which
he did twice.
Tossing Monkeys
Patrik Laine has scored three times in his past two games to end a 15-game
goalless drought (he had four assists in the 15 games), which is the longest of
his career…The three goals is more than his goal production from his previous
28 games…Laine leads the Jets with 14 power play goals, which is tied for fourth
in the NHL…He needs two goals to reach 30 goals for the third consecutive
season to start his NHL career.
Wingman
After going back-to-back games without a point for just the second time this
season, Blake Wheeler has four assists in his past three games…He leads the
Jets with 60 assists and 72 points…On Friday, Wheeler reached 70 points for the
fourth consecutive season, which is one season shy of Ilya Kovalchuk’s
franchise record of five consecutive 70-point seasons…On Sunday, Wheeler become
the first player in franchise history to record back-to-back 60-assist seasons…He
is second in the NHL in assists and tied for 11th in points.
Jets vs. Wild All-Time Records
Overall: 17-19-3
At Bell MTS Place: 8-4-1
At Xcel Energy Center: 7-11-2
2018-19 Jets Gamelog vs. Wild
| Date | Location | Score | Rec | Scorers | Goaltender |
| Nov. 23 | Minnesota | 4-2 L | 0-1-0 (12-7-2) | Laine (14), Ehlers (6) | Hellebuyck (35 sv, 3 ga) |
| Dec. 29 | Winnipeg | 3-1 L | 0-2-0 (24-12-2) | Laine (24) | Hellebuyck (22 sv, 2 ga) |
| Jan. 10 | Minnesota | 3-2 L | 0-3-0 (27-14-2) | Tanev (9), Scheifele (24) | Hellebuyck (19 sv, 3 ga) |
| Feb. 26 | Winnipeg | ||||
| Apr. 2 | Minnesota |
Jets vs. Wild Notes
- Including the playoffs, the Jets won seven of their nine games against the Wild last season, but have lost the first three games against Minnesota this season.
- Winnipeg is 14-13-2 during the regular season when facing Minnesota since moving to Manitoba in 2011.
- The Jets are 8-for-27 (29.6%) on the power play in their past eight regular season games against the Wild and have at least one power play goal in six of the eight games.
- Dustin Byfuglien leads all Minnesotans in career scoring against the Wild with 33 points (8G, 25A) in 41 games, while Blake Wheeler is second with 27 points (11G, 16A) in 33 games.
- Byfuglien and Blake Wheeler each have four career game-winning goals against the Wild.
- Five of Mathieu Perreault’s eight career goals against Minnesota have come on the power play.
Jets-Wild Connections
- Blake Wheeler is an alumnus of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.
- Wild forward Eric Fehr played with the Jets during the 2011-12 season.
- Wheeler and the Wild’s Ryan Suter and Zach Parise competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi as teammates representing USA, while Wheeler and Byfuglien played alongside Parise and Suter at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
- During his tenure as the head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, Paul Maurice coached the Wild’s Eric Staal from 2003-04 and 2008-2012.
- Mathieu Perreault played under Wild’s head coach Bruce Boudreau during his time with the Washington Capitals from 2009-2012.
- Tyler Myers played with the Wild’s Marcus Foligno from 2011-2015 with the Buffalo Sabres.
- Mark Scheifele played with the Wild’s Matt Dumba at the 2016 IIHF World Championship for Team Canada.
- Connor Hellebuyck played with the Wild’s Charlie Coyle for Team USA at the 2015 IIHF World Championship.
Upcoming Milestones
Dustin Byfuglien
- Needs one shorthanded assist to tie Marty Reasoner and Patrik Stefan (7) for the second-most shorthanded assists in franchise history.
Nikolaj Ehlers
- Needs two penalty minutes to reach 100 for his career.
Kevin Hayes
- Needs two penalty minutes to reach 100 for his career.
Connor Hellebuyck
- Needs four games played to reach 200 for his career.
- Needs 10 starts to reach 200 games started for his career.
Dmitry Kulikov
- Needs one game played to reach 100 as a member of the Jets.
Jack Roslovic
- Needs seven games played to reach 100 for his NHL career.
Blake Wheeler
- Needs four power play assists to pass Slava Kozlov (130) for the most power play assists in franchise history.
- Needs one shorthanded assist to tie Marty Reasoner and Patrik Stefan (7) for the second-most shorthanded assists in franchise history.