For the first time since the season opener, the Winnipeg Jets’ place atop the Central Division standings is in jeopardy.
Winnipeg will aim to shed its recent struggles and maintain its lead in the Central when it visits the division rival Dallas Stars on Sunday.
The Jets enter Saturday clinging to a two-point lead over second-place Minnesota, which hosts Nashville later that night. Winnipeg has gone just 3-5-0 since starting the season historically hot.
During their record-breaking 15-1-0 start, the Jets averaged 4.56 goals per game while allowing just 2.13. However, that script has flipped, with Winnipeg now scoring only 2.5 goals per game and allowing 3.25.
November’s grueling schedule, which wrapped up in Las Vegas on Friday with a mistake-filled 4-3 loss to the Golden Knights, has taken a toll. Heading into Dallas, the Jets have played just one home game in their last nine, but the team knows they have to battle through it.
“It’s been such a grind. Just coming off the four (games) in six (days),” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said after the defeat in Las Vegas. “We’re going into Dallas. We’re going against a team in our division … we have to make sure that we want to finish this road trip off on a good note.”
On this six-game road trip, the Jets are 2-3.
“We know what Dallas is. Their building is not easy to play in,” said Jets forward Cole Perfetti, who snapped an 11-game goal drought with two on Friday. “They’re a tough team. It’s a huge division game. The bare minimum we want to go home is .500. … We have a chance to do it, so we have to make sure that we’re ready come Sunday afternoon. I think we will be. I think we know how much that game is going to mean and carry the momentum coming home.”
While the Jets have struggled, Dallas has been bouncing back.
After a deflating 6-2 loss to last-place Chicago on Wednesday, the Stars responded by holding off a third-period comeback attempt by Colorado to win 5-3 on Friday in Dallas.
“It’s a great group for responding to adversity,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “When we have a bad night, or a couple bad nights, you always know you’re going to get their best … I thought we had good detail in our game, did a good job bottling up the neutral zone … we had a lot of contributions.”
Defenseman Miro Heiskanen tallied two assists in Friday’s win and extended his point streak to four games.
“We knew that we didn’t play great in Chicago. We wanted to bounce back right away and not let too many games slip from us,” Heiskanen said. “It’s work ethic and trying to get back to what we’re good at. It’s been good for a couple years and hopefully we can keep doing that.”
Dallas forward Logan Stankoven will miss his second straight game due to a lower-body injury.
Winnipeg might be without Nikolaj Ehlers, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury after leaving Friday’s game following an awkward fall into the boards.
The Jets won the first meeting between these teams this season, a 4-1 result in Winnipeg on Nov. 9.
–Field Level Media
