Jets starting to click, face tall order in visit to Lightning
The Winnipeg Jets started their road trip on the right foot with a win in New Jersey, and the Central Division team will carry that momentum south when it faces the surging Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.
After a four-game winning streak earlier in the month, the Jets head toward the end of January stumbling with just two victories in the past six games (2-2-2) and sit 29th in the league standings with 49 points.
However, in the opener of its four-game road swing Tuesday, coach Scott Arniel's club was up to the test, setting a good tone to the trip behind a three-goal second period and an adjustment on its first line that ended with a 4-3 win over the Devils.
Arniel replaced right winger Alex Iafallo on the line with Gabriel Vilardi next to center Mark Scheifele and left winger Kyle Connor. The move immediately made an impact as Vilardi assisted on Scheifele's wrister for a 1-0 lead.
Vilardi notched a goal to open the scoring in the decisive second frame, and the Jets hit the net three times for a nice road win.
"I know that line, when they're together, there's some chemistry," Arniel said. "You saw it on the first goal. I really liked Gabe's game tonight. He kind of gives us a spark with his work ethic and puck possession."
Bottom-six forward Cole Koepke said the 26-year-old Vilardi is tenacious.
"His biggest thing is when he hounds pucks and when he gets into puck battles, he usually wins them," Koepke said. "You watch him on the power play. He's a dog on a bone. His puck possession, his playmaking, his getting pucks back. He carried that over to 5-on-5, and tonight he did that to a T."
Scheifele tops the Jets with 26 goals, while Connor has 23. Vilardi has found the twine 20 times. Scheifele also leads with 63 points and is tied with Connor with 37 assists.
The Lightning opened their five-game homestand Monday with a 2-0 victory over the Utah Mammoth and showed that they were not looking ahead to the weekend.
At the home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coach Jon Cooper's club will play the Boston Bruins on Sunday night in the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series. The prime-time event at Raymond James Stadium is part of the NHL's celebration of a month of outdoor hockey in Florida.
Barring something bizarre, star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy will man the net in the eagerly anticipated matchup on Sunday, but whether or not he is the starter against Winnipeg has not been made known by Cooper.
What is known is that Vasilevskiy, the 2019 Vezina Trophy winner, is authoring another season worthy of receiving more hardware.
The 31-year-old Russian backstop leads the NHL with a 2.07 goals-against average and is second in wins (23), behind Utah's Karel Vejmelka (25), and in save percentage (.920), behind Calgary's Devin Cooley (.924).
Vasilevskiy is 12-0-1 in his past 13 matches, helping Tampa Bay bolt to the summit of the Atlantic Division standings.
"How rewarding? Give me the hows -- really rewarding, super rewarding?" Cooper said after his netminder's 42nd career shutout and second this season. "He's been on his game some time now. He stopped them all (tonight), and I think he got him into the game. I felt he slowly took over."
Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov posted two assists on Monday to reach 80 points, slotting him third behind Edmonton's Connor McDavid (92) and Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon (88).