Whenever the Winnipeg Jets‘ backs are against the wall, the team’s third line is always there to spark a turnaround.
It was hardly pretty — at times, it was almost ugly — but the Jets wouldn’t have defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-3 (OT) on Thursday night and upheld their NHL-best record (7-0-0) if it weren’t for the team’s identity line of Adam Lowry, Mason Appleton and Nino Niederreiter.
After a first period where Winnipeg trailed 1-0 and had no answer for Seattle’s run-and-gun style — which led to being outchanced 6-1 during five-on-five play — the team’s trusted trio went to work.
“When things are not going well we have to go back to what we do great, wearing teams down, get it down low, create chances, create momentum and I think that’s what we did tonight,” Niederreiter told reporters post-game. “I think that was a big reason why we won tonight.”
Just over four minutes into the second period, Niederreiter tied the game after crashing the blue paint and using his body to deflect Appleton’s shot into the net. That goal was the catalyst for Winnipeg regaining its composure and spearheaded what turned out to be a dominant performance from that line. In nine minutes of five-on-five ice time, the Jets’ third line outshot their opponents 10-4 and posted a 78.95 Corsi-for percentage while also controlling 60.93 per cent of the expected goal share when they were on the ice, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. And during the small amount of time when they didn’t possess the puck during five-on-five play, the third line did everything they could to get it back — combining for seven hits. And Niederreiter would add a second goal, too, at the 15:39 mark of the third period.
“Those guys are straight-line players,” Jets coach Scott Arniel told reporters postgame. “They push the puck forward in their straight line, they get after it. They score a lot of goals in that blue paint area.”
As much as Connor Hellebuyck is the team’s safety net, Winnipeg’s third line is their motor. And it never runs out of gas. Through seven games, they’ve outscored opponents 6-0 during five-on-five play, while also posting a 58.6 high-danger shot attempt percentage and a 56.3 scoring chance-for percentage.
El Nino
You could argue that Niederreiter is Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff’s most underappreciated acquisition.
The 32-year-old Swiss forward, who’s currently riding a three-game goal streak, has been one of the league’s best at generating quality shots since Winnipeg acquired him midway through the 2022-23 season.
Since Feb. 23, 2023 — the day of that trade with the Nashville Predators — Niederreiter ranks in the 97th percentile in five-on-five individual expected goals per 60 minutes (1.06) among skaters that have played at least 500 minutes, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
“He’s got incredible hands and he uses his body well,” teammate Gabriel Vilardi told reporters postgame.
Tough times for top line
Not only were they outchanced 12-2 and outscored 2-1 during five-on-five play but the Kraken’s second goal was a direct result of poor defensive coverage from those three. They were benched for a few shifts shortly after.
Thursday night felt very reminiscent of last year’s first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche, where that trio — whose defensive shortcomings have been well-documented — were frequently hemmed in their own zone for prolonged periods of time.
Other takeaways
• While Arniel wasn’t the most pleased with his team’s performance, the coach pointed out how crucial it is that they’re picking up points early on into the year given how competitive the Central Division is this year.
“If you look at the scoreboard tonight, Dallas won, (Minnesota) won, (Colorado won),” Arniel told reporters. “Everybody in our division keeps winning.”
• We all know how good of a passer Cole Perfetti — who registered another gorgeous assist against Seattle — is but he’s also appeared to develop more of a ‘shooter’s mentality’ this year. Perfetti is currently averaging 2.57 shots per game, which is a sizable increase from his career average (1.80).
• Alex Iafallo, Morgan Barron and Rasmus Kupari are shaping up to be a heck of a fourth line. Iafallo and Barron — two hard-forechecking players who thrive at sustaining offensive zone pressure on the walls — have always been known to be rock solid but Kupari’s emergence has really added a nice wrinkle to that unit. The 24-year-old has always had world-class speed but he’s really moulded well into a responsible fourth-line centre who can cycle the puck well in the offensive zone and kill penalties. Oh, and he’s won 54.9 per cent of his faceoffs.
• After registering an assist against Seattle, Neal Pionk now has eight points in seven games — tying him with Victor Hedman and Adam Fox for third league-wide in defenceman scoring.