GAMEDAY: Sharks at Jets

WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Jets continue their four-game homestand on Friday night when they host the San Jose Sharks at Canada Life Centre. The Jets are 2-0-0 during the homestand after a 2-1 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night. Winnipeg will finish the homestand on Sunday afternoon when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Tonight, the Jets will celebrate Connor Hellebuyck and all he has done for the organization during his career. Hellebuyck has yet to give up more than one goal in a game this season, and currently leads the league with an .976 save percentage. But the two-time Vezina Trophy winner refuses to compare this year to last season.

"I really don't like comparing years because every year I feel like I get so much better, and my details get so much stronger. Honestly, the structure is a little more dialed in. So, if I'm comparing myself to last year, yeah, I'm a way better goalie this year,” said Hellebuyck.

“Stats are stats. It fluctuates. We're at a high right now. Everything averages out. The main thing is that we're winning."

The Jets as a team are defending as well as they did last season. Through the first three games of the season, they have kept elite players like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Connor Bedard and Kirill Kaprizov off the scoresheet.

"That makes probably the biggest difference between year to year, game to game, is how good the guys are playing in front of me. There's a big emphasis in the camp to really get our structure down and really get it done right. Not just going in and working on little things,” said Hellebuyck.

“No. Get it done and get it right. The guys have really done that. They've dug in and made sure everything is in the right spot and the reads are right. Chemistry is there. We've been kind of going at this for about three years now.”

Here are the lines and D pairings from the morning skate:

The 31-year-old is closing in on some significant milestones like his 40^th shutout (he’s at 38) and his 300^th career win. Even though, the fans and organization will be celebrating his efforts, there is a small amount of family and friends in town.

"This is a pretty cool experience. A pretty cool game. not sure if I'm hearing this next line right: I've never been to something like that. So far, it's just my dad and my agent in town. I think the big ones is going to be the milestone night, if I trend to hit it this year,” said Hellebuyck.

“I think I'm 20 wins away, 2 shutouts away from that. If that happens, I think everyone's going to come in for that. That's kind of what we're planning on."

The Sharks come into town on the heels of a 4-2 loss in Chicago last night and are looking for their first win of the season.

Like Minnesota the other night coming off a back-to-back, we have to be ready to go and get after them. It’s a San Jose team that’s vastly different than what we saw last year. They brought in a lot of veterans, kind of like we knew what Chicago was doing as well,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel.

“You can’t take any opponent lightly. You can’t think you’re going to get any easy ones. We have a couple here before we take off on the road, the busy schedule starts, so we have to make sure we worry about how we play and that we get off to a good start.”

The Sharks may not be playoff contenders just yet in their current state, but they have given Winnipeg a hard time in recent games.

“If you ever underestimate an opponent, or don’t feel they’re going to be a heavy opposition, if you don’t respect them - those things happen. I’m not saying that’s what happened, but I remember one down there last year that their goaltender made about 45 stops,” said Arniel.

“At the end of the day, that’s all part of it, don’t allow them to get comfortable and into the game. It has a lot more to do with how we have to play.”