Not only are the Winnipeg Jets the early leader in the race for the President’s Trophy, but they are also setting a historic pace for points.
Off to the best 15-game start in NHL history, the Jets attempt to push their winning streak to seven games Tuesday night when they visit the New York Rangers.
The Jets are the first team to win 14 of their opening 15 games in NHL history and are five points up on the Florida Panthers and Minnesota Wild in the early race for the league’s top point total.
Winnipeg kept its streak going with a 4-1 home win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon and is outscoring foes 27-9 in its second lengthy winning streak this season. The Jets scored at least four goals for the 10th time this season and won by at least three for the eighth time.
Alex Iafallo and Nikolaj Ehlers scored power-play goals as the Jets raised their NHL-best power-play percentage to 41.9 percent and scored multiple times on the power play for the fifth game.
“I’m pretty amazed a little bit,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “At the same time, these players, they do have to recognize that it’s an amazing feat, what they’ve done so far. But we’d like to just keep this going a little bit longer. They’ve got to be awfully proud of what they’ve done.”
The power play is not the only thing clicking for the Jets, whose 67 goals are the most in the NHL. Mark Scheifele has nine of his 19 points (seven goals, two assists) in a seven-game points streak while goalie Connor Hellebuyck went a franchise-record 191:47 without allowing a goal until giving up a late tally on Saturday. The Jets scored 11 times in that span.
Winnipeg put together its quick start playing nine of its games at home, and Tuesday’s visit to the reigning President’s Trophy winners starts a stretch of nine out of 10 games on the road.
The Rangers are still trying to find the form that led them to the top mark last season. While they are off to a 9-3-1 start, the Rangers have been outshot in seven of their games and gone 5-2-0 in those games.
The latest instance was Saturday’s 4-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings, two nights after a 6-1 home loss to the Buffalo Sabres. Backup goalie Jonathan Quick made 37 saves against Detroit in a game when the Rangers were outshot 37-23.
That occurred a little over a week after the Rangers were outshot by sizable margins against the Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators.
“It’s good to get two points and get the win, get back on track,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “I thought the third period was our best period. First period, we got going a little bit toward the end. I thought in the first period and the second period wasn’t very good but overall, the bounce-back and getting a win is good.”
New York scored two goals late in the second period, when allowed 19 shots on goal. Jimmy Vesey and Artemi Panarin scored 48 seconds apart while Chris Kreider added a power-play goal in the opening period.
Quick earned the shutout after relieving Igor Shesterkin on Thursday but the Rangers’ star goaltender is expected to start after giving up five goals on 12 shots against Buffalo.
