Jets fly into LA with Kings looking very beatable
The high-flying Winnipeg Jets will enter a road game Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings with six victories over their last seven games and some incentive to make that run even better.
Going back even further, the Jets are 11-3-1 over their last 15 games, with that successful stretch only starting after a surprise 3-2 defeat at home against the Kings.
Los Angeles overwhelmed Winnipeg with a 41-28 advantage on shots in that Oct. 22 matchup with Anze Kopitar scoring the game-winner on a power play in the third period.
Little more than one month later, the Jets are not likely to let the Kings get a jump on them this time.
Winnipeg will enter off a convincing 3-0 victory against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. The Kings will also enter the second night of a back-to-back, but will have the farther road to travel despite being the home team. Los Angeles lost 4-1 at San Jose on Friday.
Kyle Connor scored his 10th goal of the season in Friday's victory as the Jets continued their winning ways away from home. Winnipeg is now 10-4-0 in road games this season and is the only team in the Western Conference with double digits in road victories.
Neal Pionk and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored goals for the Jets on Friday, while Connor Hellebuyck had 24 saves in his second shutout of the season, and first since blanking the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 20 in a game that Winnipeg won in a shootout.
The Jets are now 10-2-1 in November, with an improved penalty-kill unit that went a combined 8-for-8 against the Sharks and Ducks.
"You obviously want to be playing well at the start of a season and getting those results," forward Adam Lowry said, according to the Winnipeg Free Press. "It's important that you start banking points now. But you can't take anything for granted.
"I think we come to the rink every day and we try to get better. You've seen it, especially over the last month, there's been a lot of areas that have really improved. Our compete level has been there every night since the start of the year. And our system is getting better."
The Kings have been working on buying into a new system put in place by new head coach Todd McLellan, but have been unable to gain any traction.
Los Angeles was 5-2-1 in its last eight heading into Friday's game at San Jose, but was unable to use the momentum of a 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Wednesday to have any success against the Sharks on Friday.
The Kings did have a 34-22 advantage on shots on goal against the Sharks, but only avoided a shutout when Kyle Clifford scored a goal with less than two minutes remaining. The Sharks led 2-0 after one period while only taking four shots on goal.
The Kings are 6-1-1 in their last eight home games, so perhaps a meeting on home ice against the Jets is just what they need.
"The panic earlier in the year was, 'I'm not too sure what I'm doing yet, and there's a mistake I've got to go cover,' and you start running around," McLellan said, according to lakingsinsider.com. "We're starting to settle in. We're nowhere near where we need to be complete yet, but we're working towards it."
--Field Level Media
