The Winnipeg Jets are halfway through their longest road trip of the season, and they like what they’ve accomplished so far.
The Jets will try to maintain their momentum when they visit the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.
Winnipeg has won two of the first three games on the six-game trip, most recently defeating the Minnesota Wild 4-1 on Monday.
The Jets won 15 of their first 16 games this season, but they had lost three of five heading into their matchup with the Wild, who entered the game four points behind Winnipeg for first place in the Central Division.
“Yeah, it’s a big, big step, but obviously we’ve got to work on some things,” said Winnipeg forward Alex Iafallo, who scored twice at Saint Paul, Minn. “But, going forward, I think it’s a big win for us, and especially on the road. Finishing off that third period is huge for us — and building that momentum of hard plays and doing it right to the end.”
Iafallo, who spent his first six NHL seasons playing for the Kings, has found a home on Winnipeg’s fourth line with Rasmus Kupari and Morgan Barron. Kupari is a former first-round pick of the Kings who spent his first three seasons in Los Angeles.
The Jets welcomed back defenseman Ville Heinola on Monday after he missed 22 months while recovering from two ankle surgeries. He put two shots on goal and contributed a hit in 12:14 of ice time against the Wild.
“There were a lot of things that I liked,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said of Heinola’s play. “He has patience and poise. We know that. Especially on the breakouts and things like that.”
The Kings should be itching to get back on the ice after losing 7-2 to the host San Jose Sharks on Monday night.
The score was tied 2-2 entering the third period, but the Kings surrendered three goals in the first four minutes.
“We completely fell apart in the third period,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “That’s just unacceptable, what happened in the third. So we can talk about the first 40 (minutes), but it’s washed away with that third period.”
Two of the Sharks’ five third-period goals came on the power play. The Kings have allowed 16 goals overall on their penalty kill, which is tied for fifth most in the NHL.
“We went through this at the beginning of the year,” Hiller said. “We took too many penalties. The coach doesn’t have too many options but to take ice time away, that’s basically it. We had got ahold of it pretty good; we’ve had a pretty good run of not giving up a lot of power plays. (On Monday), we were careless, but it just goes with our mindset, particularly in the third period.”
Los Angeles will look to some of its most veteran players to help turn things around against Winnipeg.
Anze Kopitar has 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in his past seven games. He already has accumulated 25 points for the 19th time in his career, becoming the 32nd NHL player to accomplish that feat.
Adrian Kempe had two assists against the Sharks for his 77th multipoint game, tying Jari Kurri for the 19th-most multipoint games in team history.
–Field Level Media
