The Winnipeg Jets are the National Hockey League's No. 1 team.
The Winnipeg Jets are officially the very best team in the very best hockey league in the world.
Nate Schmidt scored the winner, while Laurent Brossoit stood tall in net as the Winnipeg Jets plowed their way into first-place thanks to a 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
“It’s huge," Nikolaj Ehlers said of Schmidt's goal following the game. "I think I can speak for everyone in here that we’re pretty happy when you’ve got a guy like him who works hard every single night and he gets one. You can see it on the bench, too, if there’s video of that.”
The Jets returned to action just 24 hours after a 2-1 victory in San Jose on Thursday night.
Taking their extended charter plane an hour south, the now 25-9-4 Jets and their mentors looked to keep the good times rolling after extending their franchise-record points streak to 10 games the night prior.
And they did just that, moving to 4-0-0 in the second game of back-to-backs on the season, while extending their streak to 28-straight games giving up three or fewer goals.
“It starts with our goaltending; a fantastic duo," Schmidt said postgame. "These guys has been playing really well. Shoutout to our goalie coach Flatts, he’s been great with them, and their confidence has never been better. That’s what goaltending is all about."
Anaheim pulled ahead 1-0 in the opening frame, as youngster Mason McTavish put his 11th of the season past Laurent Brossoit on a Ducks chance off the rush. Needing nearly 16 minutes to beat the Jets' No. 2 backstop, McTavish picked up an Alex Killorn feed and put a backhander through Winnipeg's last line of defence, putting the home team up 1-0.
Falling behind heavily on the shot chart to start the game, Anaheim rallied, to which its goal came on the club's 11th shot, the one that gave the Ducks a one-shot lead near the end of the frame. Anaheim finished the first period up 1-0 and ahead 13-10 in shots.
But the middle stanza was a different story for Winnipeg. The Jets tied things up 7:57 in, as Ehlers put his 13th of the year past veteran backstop John Gibson.
The goal was a result of a strong offensive shift from the team's top line. A cycle play from Mark Scheifele led to Ehlers putting a perfectly placed wrist shot through a Gabe Vilardi screen, knotting things up at ones midway through the frame.
The Jets battled back with the lone goal, but Anaheim maintained its slight 22-20 shot lead through 40 minutes of play.
Winnipeg kept the pressure going in the third period, finding the frame's opening tally less than two minutes in.
Moments after a monstrous save from Brossoit, a rush up-ice led to Schmidt finding his first goal in a span of 46 games. His first tally since March 12 came on a strong four-man rush up ice.
Namestnikov got the puck to his defence partner Dylan Samberg, who looked back to Schmidt, who made no mistake firing a wrist shot through Gibson for his first of the year.
"I think I was yelling at Samberg for half the zone," Schmidt laughed. "You get a little scared almost when you see your d-partner leading the rush and you’re the next one up. He makes a great play at the blue line and allows that play to happen. Fetts gave me a little grief for looking him off. But I think redemption came his way about five minutes later... But it feels good. It feels good to get that win.”
Perfetti kept the mentors on their feet, scoring the second goal of the frame for Winnipeg with just 6:57 to play.
With Radko Gudas in the sin bin, Namestnikov picked up his second helper of the game, as he fed Perfetti, who one-timed his 11th of the year, giving Winnipeg some breathing room.
Entering the third with a +17 goal differential, the Jets improved their mark by two, as the overall team defence shut things down over the final minutes, including a two-minute six-on-four, to which Brossoit slammed the door shut.
He turned aside 37 of Anaheim's 38 shots, while Gibson made 24 saves on the 27 pucks the Jets fired his way.
"The goaltending that we’ve had this season is the best in the league, best in the world, outstanding every single night," Ehlers said. "You let in one in the first and you don’t panic as a team. Which is something that was different last year. So, now we’re confident in both our goalies out there and we’re playing mostly as a team and that’s what gives us success.”
Next up for Winnipeg is the final test of the three-game trip, as the Jets face off against the Arizona Coyotes from Mullett Arena at 6:00 PM central time. That game can be viewed live on TSN.