Jets eager to begin run of divisional games

TEMPE – With Thursday’s loss to the Vegas Golden Knights behind them, the Winnipeg Jets hit the ice at Mullett Arena on Friday in preparation for a matinee tilt against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.

And just one quick look at the video shows that the Coyotes will be a much different team than the one the Jets just played.

“It’s two different worlds, to be honest with you,” said defenceman Dylan DeMelo, who played 22:09 in the 5-2 loss to the Golden Knights. “Vegas frustrates you with their structure and their detail, their commitment to shutting you down, and they frustrate you a ton. This team, I think they frustrate you by having the puck in their hands and making skilled plays.”

The Coyotes are coming off a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, and with a record of 5-4-1 currently hold down third spot in the Central Division – one point above the Jets.

“They’re an interesting team,” said assistant coach Marty Johnston. “They really like to skate, they play with a lot of energy and their work ethic is really good. I think they’re a team that’s moving in the right direction in terms of their franchise. We’ll be ready for that. We know what we need to do.”

The Jets (4-4-2) used Friday’s 40-minute practice to prepare for their first of four straight games against the Central Division. Winnipeg was 18-8-0 against divisional opponents last season and are 1-0-0 against the Central early in the 2023-24 campaign.

All three meetings between the Jets and Coyotes went Winnipeg’s way last season, but this Arizona club is much different than the one the Jets played last season.

Logan Cooley, the third overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, has eight points in the first 10 games of his NHL career and adds another layer of skill to the forward group. Meanwhile, on the back end, the additions of Sean Durzi and Matt Dumba have changed the dynamic of Arizona’s defence.

“Their rush game is in large part because of their D and how quickly they move it,” said Johnston. “At the end of the day, our system is our system and we’re comfortable going into any rink. We just have to worry about how we’re playing, and from there we can make a few adjustments.”

Based on Friday’s practice, those adjustments will be more in terms of systems as opposed to personnel, as the line rushes were the same as they’ve been for the last few games (save for a few minutes in the third period against Vegas when the Jets were trying to mount a late-game comeback):

Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo

Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers

Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton

Barron-Kupari-Gustafsson

Morrissey-DeMelo

Dillon-Pionk

Samberg-Schmidt

Johnston didn’t confirm whether Connor Hellebuyck would get the start against Arizona, a team that he’s 10-3-0 against in his career with a 0.925 save percentage.

Regardless of how things shake out in terms of personnel, this is a Jets team ready to turn the page from a frustrating loss to Vegas.

“Just a couple of mental breakdowns seem to be biting us in the butt here early on in the year where we’ve played good hockey, but lost it in our own doing,” said DeMelo. “The beauty of this league is you usually play every other night, so we get to get right back at it with an afternoon game tomorrow. I think guys are excited to respond well.”

NO PANIC ON THE PK

The Jets have only played Vegas twice this season, but in both cases the Golden Knights scored twice on the power play.

They’re the only team that has done that to the Jets this season, however Winnipeg also only has one game where they’ve been perfect on the kill. That night was in Detroit – against a power play that, at the time, was clicking at over 40 percent – and the Jets would like more performances like that one as the regular season rolls on.

DeMelo, who leads the Jets in average shorthanded time on ice per game at 3:40, says the foundation of the team’s penalty kill is in a good place, despite being ranked 30^th in the NHL.

“We can all be better though, there is no doubt about it,” DeMelo said. “There are things we can control - our changes, face-offs, clears, our sorts haven’t been as bang on as we’d like them to be with a little bit of different personnel.”

His breakdown of the team’s penalty kill performance against Vegas shows exactly why it has been a frustrating start to the season on the penalty kill.

“We gave up two of the weirder penalty kill goals we’ll give up all year,” he said. “Their goalie passes from the trapezoid all the way up. Haven’t seen that one in a while for our group. That one you can kind of chuck and throw it out the window. The second one, we’re trying to score. We score, or at least if that puck is a rebound, it’s a different conversation.”

The confidence remains high as Winnipeg prepares to face Arizona’s 10^th ranked power play on Saturday.

“I think if we were getting seamed to death, back doored, and all those looks you wouldn’t like, you’d be more concerned,” DeMelo said. “It’s only 10 games. We think we can rectify it and we think we can turn it around and help our team win games.”