Winnipeg Jets achieve best start in NHL history at 14-1-0 after beating Stars

WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Jets are off to the best 15-game start in NHL history, winning 14 of their first 15 games to build a record of 14-1-0.

A sold-out Canada Life Centre crowd watched as Winnipeg beat Dallas 4-1 to clinch the record, getting power-play goals from Alex Iafallo and Nikolaj Ehlers, plus even-strength goals from Rasmus Kupari and Vladislav Namestnikov.

The clinching game was a rout against Winnipeg’s division rivals — a party, a goal-scoring parade. By the second period, with the Jets leading 3-0, the crowd felt comfortable chanting “U.S. backup” at Stars goalie Jake Oettinger. When Ehlers scored to make it 4-0, the Stars pulled Oettinger from the game and the chants grew louder.

After allowing one goal, Connor Hellebuyck also set a new Jets record for longest shutout streak at 191:47, surpassing Ondrej Pavelec’s 187:05 back in 2014-15.

Here are the keys to how Winnipeg accomplished the best start in NHL history.

That mythical 10 percent

Winnipeg finished fourth in the NHL with 110 points and 52 wins last season, including eight straight wins to end the regular season. The Jets’ five-game loss to Colorado in the first round of the playoffs was stunning — not just the loss, but Colorado’s dominant play — and it left Winnipeg with an offseason challenge.

“Until you’re the team standing there at the end (of the playoffs) you’ve done nothing,” Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said in the wake of the loss. “The onus is on everybody within the organization to be that 10 percent better.”

It’s a message that players embraced, with Jets stars and leaders like Josh Morrissey, Adam Lowry, Mark Scheifele and more all sharing some version of the same message. It’s also the sort of thing that every non-championship team talks about, but our read of the Jets dressing room in the wake of last season was of a higher level of accountability entering the offseason.

Part of Winnipeg’s success this season comes from defense-first identity-line players like Lowry, Mason Appleton and Nino Niederreiter making yet more elite defensive plays while cranking off their offensive output. Part of it comes from Kyle Connor’s nine-goal, 10-assist explosion to start the season, paired with better backchecking efforts at key times. There is a story I have told about the Jets — that their best offensive players don’t play defense and the best defensive players don’t add offense — that Winnipeg has proven completely, thoroughly wrong.

There have been tough moments — no team or player is perfect — but few tough stretches of play.

Revamped, league-leading 43.9 percent power play

Both of Winnipeg’s power-play units scored in the record-clinching win against Dallas on Saturday.

Iafallo’s perfectly timed cut into the slot to receive Namestnikov’s centering pass opened the scoring; it demonstrated this year’s injection of movement and pace into both power-play units. It was also the second unit’s eighth goal of the season, including three from breakout player Cole Perfetti, taking creative advantage of four left-handed forwards and Neal Pionk’s vision from the point.

Ehlers’ one-timer from the slot showed why it was so important to add him to Winnipeg’s elite array of offensive players featuring Scheifele, Connor, Vilardi and Morrissey. The joy of Winnipeg’s first unit is partly in the variety of set-ups — they’ve scored goals on plays last year’s Jets wouldn’t have been in position to try — and in the number of options each player has available to him with the puck. Players are in nearly constant motion, rotating into more and more dangerous positions with each pass of the puck, and Ehlers’ goal was the top unit’s 10th of the season.

Connor’s four goals lead all Jets power-play scorers; his next one will equal his total from all of last season.

#Wild 1 @ #Jets 2 [OT-4:09]:

Goal: Kyle Connor (2)
Power-Play, 23’ Wrist Shot

Assists: M. Scheifele (2), J. Morrissey (4)#MNWild #GoJetsGo #MINvsWPG pic.twitter.com/1WS0g5Bu6y

— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalsVideo) October 14, 2024

 

Elite goaltending

No record-setting streak is possible without elite goaltending performances. Hellebuyck’s performance in team win No. 13 was the stuff of legend.

Facing the team that beat him for 24 goals in five playoff games, Hellebuyck was simply spectacular, stopping 35 shots to earn his second straight shutout, outright stealing Winnipeg’s win. His 32-save performance against Dallas outshone rival U.S. netminder Oettinger, which led to chants of “U.S. backup” from the Canada Life Centre crowd.

It’s back-to-back @pepsi shutouts for Connor Hellebuyck! 🙅‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/i5mOQfsSE3

— NHL (@NHL) November 8, 2024

Magic moments 

Even a team with the league’s best power play, the defending Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender at the height of his powers, and a defense corps that’s produced a pile of offense while giving up only 30 goals in 15 games needs help from time to time.

There have been individual performances and moments that kept the streak alive, uniquely transcending Winnipeg’s team quality.

Whether it was Scheifele’s diving goal with Hellebuyck pulled to force overtime against Chicago — or his overtime winner — the Jets’ star center pulled a win out of nowhere in the dying minutes of Game 2. In Game 3 against Minnesota, Scheifele scored Winnipeg’s only goal of regulation time straight off of a faceoff with two seconds left in the first period.

IT’S MARK SCHEIFELE OFF THE DRAW! 💪

The @NHLJets pull the goalie with 2.9 seconds left in the first period and put one in the back of the net to tie it up! #NHLFaceOff pic.twitter.com/SPL6niu4f3

— NHL (@NHL) October 13, 2024

Connor won that game in overtime with a scorching shot off the bar and in, building part of Winnipeg’s perfect 3-0-0 record in extra time. There was Ehlers’ hat trick against Columbus, or his overtime winner against Seattle that trickled just past Joey Daccord with Hellebuyck pulled on a delayed penalty call. There was the Jets’ team-wide resilience after a controversial goaltender interference non-call put Winnipeg down 2-0 early against Tampa Bay.

Time and time again, Winnipeg’s players have stepped up in the biggest, most defining moments of games. Their defensemen have protected the crease, all four lines have contributed offense, and Hellebuyck has built the case for a Vezina Trophy encore.

Historical context/comparisons

The Jets stand in a class of their own at 14-1.

Before that, they were one of only two teams to start a season 13-1.

And before that, they were one of only six teams to win 12 out of their first 13 games. Here’s what happened to the other teams in this elite group.

It’s clear that greatness surrounds all of these teams.

What’s unclear is how immediately that greatness arrived — particularly in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It might be sobering to learn that none of the other five teams went on to win the Stanley Cup in the season of their run. Four of the five were eliminated in the first round, while the 1995 Penguins made it as far as Round 2, losing to New Jersey, the eventual champions.

The 1994-95 Nordiques lost in the first round but won the Cup the following season in Colorado after acquiring Patrick Roy in a trade with Montreal. Detroit won the Presidents’ Trophy prior to its first-round loss in 2006 and won the Cup in 2008. The Penguins were on the downswing from back-to-back championships in 1991 and 1992, while the Senators had made the previous year’s Cup Final.

The one thing that remains clear? 14 wins in 15 games is a spectacular, history-making accomplishment, but 16 playoff wins are promised to no one.

How it happened, according to head coach Scott Arniel

“It’s real simple for me. It’s such a team effort. It is such a team effort. This isn’t Helle winning every game. This isn’t Scheifele’s line winning us every game. To me, this is 23 guys. This has been unbelievable in the sense of how everybody has contributed. Whether that’s blocking shots or making little detailed plays, defending, but obviously scoring goals. Early in the year, we had to score late in games to send it to overtime and win it. Just different ways of finding ways to stay in games and then getting the two points. The best answer I can give you is that this has really been a team run for us.”

Required reading

• NHL Power Rankings: A new No. 1 plus one reason to be optimistic about each team
• Connor Hellebuyck steals ‘revenge game,’ Winnipeg continues historic start: 3 takeaways
• Is the Winnipeg Jets’ hot start for real? Adam Lowry for Team Canada? Mailbag

(Photo: Darcy Finley / NHLI via Getty Images)