New York Rangers: A homecoming for Jacob Trouba and Brendan Lemieux
By Steve Paulus
About the Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are in the wild, wild Western Conference and as a result, with 63 points in 57 games, they are in the first wild card spot. To compare to the Rangers, the Blueshirts have 58 points in 54 games. If the Rangers win their three games in hand, they have 64 points, one more than the Jets and that would be good for third place in the Pacific Division.
This is the third game of a six game homestand for Winnipeg. They’ve won the first two games and have been playing well at home, undefeated in their last four. They’ve been on a bit of a seesaw. They lost seven of eight games to close out January, but this month have rebounded with a 4-0-1 record.
The three hottest players on the team are Patrik Laine who has five goals in his last three games including a hat trick on Saturday against Ottawa. Kyle Connor who was honored as the NHL’s second star of the week on Monday and goalie Connor Hellebuyck who was the Jets representative at the All-Star game along with Mark Schiefele. The netminder is 3-0-1 since the game with a 1.99 goals-against average and .942 save percentage.
Statistically, as a team the Jets are smack in the middle of the NHL pack. They average 2.98 goals per game, good for 18th in the NHL and they allow 3.00 goals per game, 20th overall. The same goes for special teams. They are 26th best at the penalty kill (75.3%) and 14th on the power play (9.8%). The Rangers are better in both categories.
The Jets are led by their top line of Scheifele, Laine and Connor. Each player has over 20 goals, the only players to hit that mark on the team. Blake Wheeler centers a potent second line, but after that there is not much offense.
Former Ranger Neal Pionk leads all Jets defensemen in scoring, paired with Josh Morrissey. He plays the most minutes on the team and with 37 points he has exceeded last year’s total with the Rangers by 11. Looking at the numbers, he is having a better season than Trouba, but as mentioned, the new Ranger brings something else to the table. That said, Pionk has reversed his minus 16 rating of last season and is plus six this campaign.
Hellebuyck has been a workhorse in net, starting 44 of 57 games. He has a goals against average of 2.67 and a save percentage of .920. second only to Ben Bishop among goaltenders who have started more than 30 games.