SERIES NOTES SERIES OVERVIEW
HIGH POWER OFFENCES
The Winnipeg Jets face the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs…The Central Division rivals met four times during the regular season, with the Jets winning three of the four contests and outscoring the Wild 14-10. This is the first playoff meeting between the two franchises.
The Jets have eight players who have scored 15 or more goals this season, including five different players who scored hat tricks (Patrik Laine, Nikolaj Ehlers, Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele and Brandon Tanev)…The most dangerous scorer of them all is Laine, as his 44 goal goals in his sophomore season were the second most in the league behind Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin (49)…Laine was on fire down the stretch, as he recorded 16 goals in the month of March and had a 15-game point streak from Feb. 16-Mar. 18…Laine wasn’t the only young goal scorer for the Jets, as Kyle Connor finished his rookie campaign with 31 goals to win the league’s rookie goal scoring title…Ehlers scored the third most goals for the Jets with 29, which is a career-high for the 22-year-old forward…Mark Scheifele was able to net 23 goals, despite missing 22 games to injury..Captain Blake Wheeler finished the season tied for the league lead in assists with 68, while also scoring 23 goals of his own…The Jets were the second-highest scoring team in the NHL with 273 goals…The Minnesota Wild have their own elite goal scorer, as 15-year NHL veteran Eric Staal scored a career high 42 goals this season…Jason Zucker also had a career year, as he scored a career high 33 goals for the Wild and added 31 assists…The Jets also have to look out for Zach Parise who has 17 points in his last 21 games…The Wild had the 11th most goals in the league this season with 250.
LOOKING FOR THE FIRST ONE The Jets are searching for their first playoff victory in franchise history, after being swept when they were the Atlanta Thrashers in 2007 and in 2015 against the Anaheim Ducks…The Wild return to the playoffs for the sixth year in a row and last won a playoff series in 2015.
FEAR THE WHITE OUT Bell MTS Place has not been kind to opposing teams this season, as the Jets finished the season with the best home record in the NHL at 32-7-2…The last time the Jets lost at home was Feb. 27/18 against Nashville…Since then, the Jets won their last nine games in front of their home crowd…The last time the team with the best home record in the regular season didn’t advance past the first round of the playoffs was in 2012 when the Detroit Red Wings lost to the Nashville Predators in five games.
HEATING UP AT THE RIGHT TIME
GOING INTO XCEL The Jets franchise is 7-9-2 all-time at Xcel Energy Centre during the regular season… The Wild have also been strong at home this season, as they have the fifth best home record in the Western Conference at 27-6-8…Winnipeg’s lone loss against the Wild this season came at Xcel Energy Center…Visiting teams have a 5-1 record in the past six playoff games at the Xcel Energy Center.
UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY The Jets finished the season with the second-best record in the NHL and broke a franchise record for most wins in a season (52), but this is the team’s first trip to the playoffs since 2015… The Jets have five players who have played in 20 or more playoff games – Dustin Byfuglien, Paul Stastny, Matt Hendricks, Mathieu Perreault and Blake Wheeler...The Wild have a significant edge in playoff experience, as their roster features 15 players with 20 or more games of playoff experience…In total, the Jets players have played in a total of 265 playoff games, while the players on the Wild have 748 NHL playoff games on their resumes…Players such as Connor Hellebuyck, Nikolaj Ehlers, Patrik Laine, Josh Morrissey, Jack Roslovic, Kyle Connor, and Joel Armia are playing in the playoffs for the first time in their young NHL careers.
GOALTENDING MATCHUP Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck had a breakout season for the Jets, as he broke the franchise record for wins (44), shutouts (6), minutes played (3,966) and save percentage (.923) in a season…This is Hellebuyck’s first taste of playoff action in the pros, as his teams missed the playoffs in his two seasons in the AHL as well…Hellebuyck heads into the series with a 5-2 career record against the Wild…For Minnesota, Devan Dubnyk had the third most wins in the Western Conference (35), five shutouts, .918 save percentage, and a 2.52 goals against average.
First Round Series Preview
Nobody was hotter than the Winnipeg Jets in the final 10 games of the regular season, as the Jets ended the season with a 9-1-0 in their final contests and a five-game winning streak…The last time the Jets lost back to back games was Mar. 13/18.
VETERAN COACHES DO BATTLE Jets head coach Paul Maurice is coaching in the postseason for the sixth time in his career…Maurice is 25-32 behind the bench in playoff games, with the highlight of his postseason success coming in 2002 when he coached the Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup final…Maurice is looking to not only become the first coach in franchise history to earn a playoff victory, but he is also looking to win his first playoff game since 2009 in Carolina…Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau is leading a team to the postseason for the 10th time in his career…Boudreau, who was hired by Minnesota in 2016, is looking to win his first series as the bench boss of the Wild…Boudreau has a 24-19 career playoff record, but has yet to reach a Stanley Cup final.
FRIENDLY MINNESOTANS The Jets roster features four Minnesotans – Dustin Byfuglien (Roseau), Matt Hendricks (Blaine), Tucker Poolman (East Grand Forks) and Blake Wheeler (Plymouth)… Minnesota is tied with Michigan and Ontario for the most represented province/state on the Jets roster…The Jets have the second most Minnesotans on their roster of any team in the NHL, as the Wild had five Minnesotans play for them this season.
STATE OF WHEELER AND BUFF Captain Blake Wheeler had seven points (2G, 5A) in four games during the regular season against the team from his home state…Wheeler has 26 points (11G, 15A) in 27 games against the Wild as a member of the Jets, including points in 19 of the 27 games…Wheeler has at least a point in nine of his 10 games in Minnesota…Minnesotan Dustin Byfuglien has 32 points in 39 career games against the Wild, including 21 points (5G, 16A) in 24 games as a member of the Jets.
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JETS VS. WILD SUPERLATIVES Longest Winnipeg win streak vs. Minnesota: 4, Mar. 19, 2017-Nov. 27, 2017
Most goals by both teams: 11, Feb. 28, 2017 (M, 6-5)
Longest Minnesota win streak vs. Winnipeg: 4, Nov. 16, 2016-Mar. 1, 2017
Last Winnipeg shutout vs. Minnesota: Jan. 15, 2016 (1-0) - Connor Hellebuyck
Last Minnesota win at home: Jan. 13, 2018 (4-1) (0-0-0 since last win)
Last Minnesota shutout vs. Winnipeg: Apr. 7, 2014 (1-0) - Ilya Bryzgalov
Last Winnipeg win at home: Nov. 28, 2017 (7-2) (0-0-0 since last win)
Last Winnipeg hat trick vs. Minnesota: None
Last Minnesota win at Winnipeg: Jan. 1, 2017 (6-5) (0-3-0 since last win)
Last Minnesota hat trick vs. Winnipeg: Nov. 13, 2001 (M, 4-2) - Marian Gaborik
Last Winnipeg win at Minnesota: Oct. 31, 2017 (2-1) (0-1-0 since last win)
Last Winnipeg trade with Minnesota: Jul. 5, 2003 - Devin Setoguchi traded to Winnipeg for a 2014 2nd round draft pick
Most goals by Winnipeg vs. Minnesota: 7, Nov. 27, 2017, (W, 7-2)
Winnipeg’s Overtime/Shootout Record vs. Minnesota: 4-1-2
Most goals by Minnesota vs. Winnipeg: 6, Feb. 28, 2017 (M, 6-5)
JETS VS. WILD SEASON-BY-SEASON YEAR
Home
Road
TOTAL
GF-GA
2007-08
1-0-0
0-1-0
1-1-0
4-7
2008-09
0-1-0
0-0-0
0-1-0
2-4
1-0-0
1-0-0
3-2
1-0-0
2-0-0
6-4
2009-10
DID NOT PLAY
2010-11
0-0-0
2011-12
1-0-0
2012-13
DID NOT PLAY
2013-14
1-1-1
0-2-0
1-3-1
10-12
2014-15
1-1-0
2-0-1
3-1-1
13-11
2015-16
2-0-0
2-1-0
4-1-0
17-11
2016-17
1-2-0
0-2-0
1-4-0
16-21
2017-18
2-0-0
1-1-0
3-1-0
14-10
First Round Series Preview
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HEAD-TO-HEAD PLAYER STATS JETS PLAYER STATS VS. WILD
WILD PLAYER STATS VS. JETS
Player
GP
G
A
Pts
+/-
PIM
PPG
SHG
GWG
Player
GP
G
A
Pts
+/-
PIM
PPG
SHG
GWG
Mark Scheifele
3
1
5
6
3
0
1
0
0
Marcus Foligno
4
1
3
4
0
4
1
0
0
Blake Wheeler
4
2
4
6
2
2
0
0
1
Jason Zucker
4
2
2
4
1
0
0
0
1
Kyle Connor
4
2
3
5
1
2
1
0
0
Charlie Coyle
2
0
3
3
2
0
0
0
0
Dustin Byfuglien
4
0
3
3
-1
6
0
0
0
Matt Dumba
4
2
0
2
-2
2
0
0
0
Nikolaj Ehlers
4
2
1
3
-2
2
0
0
1
Mikael Granlund
3
1
1
2
-2
0
1
0
0
Joel Armia
4
1
1
2
2
2
0
0
0
Mikko Koivu
4
1
1
2
-1
2
0
0
0
Patrik Laine
4
2
0
2
-1
2
2
0
0
Chris Stewart
4
2
0
2
-2
2
0
0
0
Mathieu Perreault
2
2
0
2
1
0
1
0
0
Matt Cullen
4
0
1
1
-1
0
0
0
0
Jacob Trouba
4
1
1
2
1
0
0
0
1
Luke Kunin
2
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
Ben Chiarot
2
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
Nino Niederreiter
2
0
1
1
1
2
0
0
0
Andrew Copp
4
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
Gustav Olofsson
3
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
Toby Enstrom
3
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
Mike Reilly
2
0
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
Matt Hendricks
3
0
1
1
1
7
0
0
0
Jared Spurgeon
3
0
1
1
0
2
0
0
0
Dmitry Kulikov
3
0
1
1
-1
0
0
0
0
Eric Staal
4
0
1
1
-1
2
0
0
0
Bryan Little
4
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
Ryan Suter
4
0
1
1
0
2
0
0
0
Josh Morrissey
4
0
1
1
1
2
0
0
0
Jonas Brodin
4
0
0
0
1
2
0
0
0
Tyler Myers
4
0
1
1
2
4
0
0
0
Tyler Ennis
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Marko Dano
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Joel Eriksson Ek
3
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
Brendan Lemieux
3
0
0
0
-1
2
0
0
0
Landon Ferraro
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Adam Lowry
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Zack Mitchell
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
Shawn Matthias
2
0
0
0
-2
0
0
0
0
Ryan Murphy
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
Nic Petan
1
0
0
0
-1
0
0
0
0
Zach Parise
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
Jack Roslovic
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Nate Prosser
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Brandon Tanev
3
0
0
0
-1
0
0
0
0
Kyle Quincey
2
0
0
0
-3
18
0
0
0
Daniel Winnik
4
0
0
0
-1
7
0
0
0
JETS GOALTENDER STATS VS. WILD
WILD GOALTENDER STATS VS. JETS
Player
GP
GS
W
L
OTL
ShO
Sv%
GAA
Player
GP
GS
W
L
OTL
ShO
Sv%
GAA
Connor Hellebuyck
4
4
3
1
0
0
0.914
2.50
Devan Dubnyk
2
2
1
1
0
0
0.921
2.53
Alex Stalock
2
2
0
2
0
0
0.809
4.59
First Round Series Preview
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