The Winnipeg Jets are the hottest team in the NHL. Their 14 wins in their first 15 has launched them to the top of the league with a nice cushion on second place Florida Panthers. They currently have a .933 win percentage. The Jets will come down to earth a little, but the Jets are no fluke.
In the fifteen games so far this season, they have outscored their opponents 67 to 31. While they do have some elite scorers, it has been a full team effort. To put it in perspective, only four players have not scored a goal yet. Dylan DeMelo, Morgan Barron, David Gustafsson, and Haydn Fleury. All defensive minded players and to be honest, Morgan Barron should have a goal at this point with how the fourth line has been buzzing the offensive zone. The first line has 51 points, the second has 42 points, the third has 33 points, and the fourth has 9 points. Great depth scoring so far.
While the forward lines have been going pedal to the metal, it has been the defense that has been the extra offense that puts them over the top. The defense has 46 points so far this season. Morrissey has been leading the way with 16 points and is second in the league in scoring from a defenseman.
The real story has been the play of Neal Pionk. He has had rather disappointing seasons the last few years, but this year he seems to have found that juice that had Jets fans excited in his first year in Winnipeg. The Jets defenseman is sitting in fourth in defense points. Great bounce back season for Pionk, and at the right time as he is a UFA.
You cannot talk about the Winnipeg Jets without talking about the man they have between the pipes. Connor Hellebuyck has been continuing his Vezina caliber play into this year. He has eleven wins so far this season with a 1.83 GAA and a .935 SV% with 3 shutouts. Hellebuyck has been the reliable puck stopper we have all come to expect from him again this year.
Backup Eric Comrie has been a pleasant surprise for Jets fans. He came over after a rather disappointing stint in Buffalo. This year he has seemed calm, stable and able to settle the team down when Hellebuyck has been on the bench. He has three wins, a 2.67 GAA, and .914 SV%. Comrie has been exactly what the Jets need so far this season.
The Winnipeg Jets are the only team in NHL history to start a season 14-1-0. They have built up quite the lead in the Central division and the NHL as a whole. The Central division has some teams in it that just have not been themselves lately. Dallas has been struggling to find it’s identity from last season that made them scary, while the Avalanche have just not been able to stay healthy or get a save when they need it. Winnipeg will eventually come down to earth a little when it comes to their play but the question on everyone’s mind is which team will show up in playoffs. This team or the one that got bounced from the playoffs with ease.
If you are to go back to last season, the Jets ended the regular season on a seven game winning streak. When you look at that streak the two games that stand out is the 3-0 win against Dallas and the 7-0 win against Colorado. The rest of the teams they beat were teams they should be beating honestly. Then you look at this season and they continued their stellar regular season play.
The strength of schedule during this run was constantly being called into question but it really is you play who they schedule you to play. Recently though they have been playing teams that are supposed to be top teams in the league. Beating a banged up Colorado team in a 1-0 thriller and then the Dallas Stars 4-1. So even though this team is 14-1-0, are they this great team or are they the team that got manhandled in last years playoffs.
To answer that question, you need to look at how they are winning these games. The game against Tampa is a perfect example. They go down 2-0 early on a goaltender interference call that is still baffling the hockey world, but did they wilt? No they did not, they got to work. They stormed back, got the lead and just kept pushing through. Tampa is no slouch this year so it was a gutsy win.
Then there was the Utah game. It was a game where Winnipeg should be able to flex their muscles, but Utah surprised them with some stellar defensive play. Yet the Jets were able to grind to a 3-0 win. Finally you look at a pair of games against Columbus and Detroit where they just showed up and were able to play some solid hockey. They were able to really flex those muscles offensively and defensively to beat teams they should beat.
So they can play the run and gun style game, they can grind out a win, and they can take over games with relative ease, oh and they never give up. In the one game they lost, they got down big and were able to hang around long enough to make it a close game by then end. They were down by four in the beginning of the second and with five minutes left in the game pulled within one.
This team has no quit, they have learned from their embarrassing playoff exit last year and look to be on a different trajectory. The feeling around this team has not felt like this since 2017-18 when they went to the Conference Final. While all the regular season success so far is great and they should make playoffs with ease thanks to it. It will come down to playoffs. Another first round exit is not option for this team. It is not quite Cup or Bust yet for them, but it may be getting there.
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