Division title isn’t Central to season
Winnipeg best served by focusing on No. 2 seed and locking up home ice in opening playoff round
First place in the NHL’s Central Division is now nothing more than a long shot for the Winnipeg Jets.
Thanks to a pair of head-to-head losses to the Nashville Predators, it would take a monumental collapse by the defending Western Conference champions and a ridiculous run for the Jets to overcome the eight-point deficit in the Central.
With 12 games to go, the Jets (41-19-10) would probably be best served focusing on trying to lock down home-ice advantage in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
With 92 points, the Jets have a firm grasp on second place and a seven-point cushion on the Minnesota Wild with 12 games left in the regular season — while dealing with a rash of injuries to nine starters, most notably star centre Mark Scheifele.
“I really liked the way we stayed with it. There wasn’t anything easy there for us,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. “We never talk about our injuries limiting what we can do. We put 20 NHLers on the ice and that’s a big part of the reason we’ve survived and excelled with some pretty important pieces out of the lineup for a long period of time.”
In the coming days, the Jets should be getting several key pieces back in the lineup, including defencemen Jacob Trouba and Toby Enstrom and centres Scheifele, Paul Stastny and Adam Lowry.
The Jets play host to Chicago on Thursday. Here are five things to watch for in the game:
1: Although it’s been a challenging season for the Blackhawks, they’ve had the Jets’ number so far this season, winning both meetings to date.
2: Injuries are an obvious factor, but the Jets’ depth has been on display all season long, which makes it surprising the Jets have gone six games without scoring four goals in a game, their longest stretch this season. Left-winger Kyle Connor snapped an eight-game drought Tuesday, but the Jets have several key contributors who haven’t found the back of the net in a long time.
3: Since giving up six goals in a loss to Nashville on Feb. 27, Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck got himself back in the zone, allowing just 12 goals during his past six appearances — which included making 30 saves in 49:36 of relief on Tuesday.
4: While much of the attention and praise has been directed at Jets sniper Patrik Laine during this 13-game point streak (16 goals, 23 points), linemate Nikolaj Ehlers has been producing lately as well. He’s got seven goals and 14 points during his past 16 games and is closing in on a 30-goal campaign.
5: After returning from the six-game road trip with a record of 3-2-1, the Jets will play eight of the final 12 games of the regular season on home ice — where they’ve posted a record of 24-7-2. The Jets will look to try to solidify their standing as the second-place team in the Central when they open a sixgame homestand.