SCHEIFELE FIRST STAR AS JETS WHIP PREDS 4-1
The Winnipeg Jets are on a heater.
Saturday night in front of a near-sellout (14,309) at Canada Life Centre, the Jets played an outstanding game and got terrific performances from Vladislav Namestnikov, Connor Hellebuyck, Jonathan Toews and Logan Stanley (yes, Logan Stanley) as they whipped the Nashville Predators 4-1.
It was Winnipeg’s fourth straight win as the Jets improved to 4-1-0 early in the 2025-26 season, but it was also a statement game for a number of players.
Mark Scheifele scored his sixth goal in five games and became the all-time leading scorer (813 points) in Jets 2.0 history, surpassing Blake Wheeler; Toews played his best game of the year, picked up two assists and appears to be shaking off the rust from two seasons out of the game; and Stanley, well Stanley was simply terrific.
In the second period, the oft-maligned 6-foot-7 D-man easily handled big Michael McCarron in a second-period semi-fight (the penalties were assessed for “fighting,” but the semantics could be argued) and then added his second goal of the year early in the third period.
When one considers that the three stars were Scheifele, Stanley and Hellebuyck, you get an idea what the evening was like. In all, it was a terrific Hockey Night in Canada for the Jets.
Winnipeg opened the scoring on the power-play at 2:39 of the first period as Scheifele drilled a one-timer past Juuse Saros. It was a perfect three-way passing play as Scheifele scored his sixth of the year from Kyle Connor and Alex Iafallo.
At 10:25 the Jets made it 2-0 as Vladislav Namestnikov laid a perfect stretch pass onto the stick of Nino Niederreiter who went in alone on Saros and made a wide deke to score his second of the season. Dylan DeMelo also drew an assist.
Winnipeg outshot Nashville 11-4 in the first period and pretty much dominated play.
In the second period, Nashville outshot Winnipeg 16-4, but it was a superb period for the Jets. Yeah, I know, that sounds like an oxymoron, but when you consider the Jets started the period with three chintzy minor penalties then picked up the chintziest of all penalties late in the period, Winnipeg’s penalty-killing unit was splendid.
Winnipeg started the period with Morgan Barron in the box for tripping at the 20:00 minute mark of the first period. Then Parker Ford picked up a tripping penalty at 4:40 when Michael Bunting just fell down (sometimes it pays to be a lousy skater) and then with 44 second left in Ford’s penalty, Tanner Pearson was handed an interference penalty when Nick Blankenburg just nonchalantly skated in front of Pearson then fell down.
The Jets gave up a few shots while a man (or two) short but there were only a few good scoring chances and reigning MVP Connor Hellebuyck cleaned those up.
At the 19:43 mark of the period, Josh Morrissey picked up the stupidest penalty in 15 seasons of Jets hockey when he was assessed a minor for playing without a helmet. Referees Kendrick Nicholson and Graham Skilliter were just making them up as they went along at this stage.
To their credit, the Jets killed off all the penalties in the second period and still led 2-0 after 40 minutes.
In the third, the Jets fought off the Morrissey penalty, then at 5:26, Logan Stanley scored his second goal of the season when he unleashed a shot clocked at 94.4 miles per hour that Saros never saw until it came flying out off the back of the net. Gustav Nyquist picked up his third assist of the season and Jonathan Toews contributed his second (NOTE: Connor McDavid has zero goals this season. Logan Stanley has two).
The Jets played exceptional defensive hockey for the remainder of the period, but at 16:52, the second power-play unit struck. Toews laid a perfect pass onto the stick of Namestnikov who ripped it top-shelf past Saros. It was Namestnikov’s second of the year and second point of the night. Toews picked up his third assist of the year and second of the night and Niederreiter picked up his third assist of the year and second point of the night.
Sadly, Hellebuyck lost his shutout at the 18:56 mark of the third when Michael Bunting squeezed it past the reigning Vezina Trophy winner to make the final score 4-1.
Nashville outshot Winnipeg 31-24, outhit Winnipeg 19-16 and won 58.5 per cent of the faceoffs, but amazingly they were never really in the game. It was a great night for Winnipeg, but an odd one on the statistics sheet.
The Jets play again Monday night in Calgary (8:30 p.m. on TSN3) and then play at home again on Thursday night as the Seattle Kraken come to town. Game time is 7 p.m.
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