All-for-one, one-for-all mentality drives Jets

CHICAGO — It’s the type of unselfish, team-first play that can go a long way.

With the Winnipeg Jets holding a 5-2 lead over the Minnesota Wild late in the third period Tuesday night, forward Cole Koepke threw himself in front of a blistering slapshot off the stick of Daemon Hunt.

The result was painfully predictable — the puck was deflected far away from Jets goaltender Stuart Skinner, Koepke was briefly in agony as he hobbled to the bench and the crowd inside Canada Life Centre roared in approval.

“Fine. A little sore. But it’s all good,” Koepke said Wednesday following the team’s optional practice ahead of flying to the Windy City where they’ll face the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.

Jets head coach Scott Arniel said Koepke’s personal sacrifice was the subject of post-game locker-room banter, right up there with other notable game highlights including Mark Scheifele’s three points, Cole Perfetti’s two goals and Kyle Connor’s silky smooth snipe.

“Guys love to see that,” said Arniel. “Coaches love to see it, too.”

There’s plenty to like about the look of the Jets, who carry a 4-1-1 record into United Center. They’re already 2-0-0 within the Central Division after impressive wins over Colorado and Minnesota, and will try to keep the good times rolling against a re-building Chicago group.

Sure, the Blackhawks are just 2-5-0. But they’re coming off a solid 5-3 win on Tuesday over visiting Pittsburgh — a game which saw superstar Connor Bedard return from injury to make his season debut as captain, recording an assist.

The Jets will need more efforts, big and small, from every member of the roster regardless of the opponent.

“I think it’s kind of been a point of emphasis for us. Just play the right way, try and get everyone involved,” Koepke said of an all-for-one, one-for-all mentality.

He correctly noted Winnipeg’s top line “does a lot of heavy lifting,” and that may be quite the understatement. Connor (7) and Perfetti (5) have combined for two-thirds of Winnipeg’s 18 goals, while Scheifele now has six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in his last three games.

Those three skaters have combined for 24 points so far — which is one more than the entire rest of the roster combined.

But there are signs some secondary scoring could be on the way. Koepke scored his first of the year off a nifty feed from Vlad Namestnikov in the third period against Minnesota and the fourth line (along with Morgan Barron) looked dangerous all night.

“We wanted to go out there and just find our game, be good defensively and try and create up the rush,” said Koepke. “We got a few chances, so it was nice to be rewarded for it.”

Isak Rosen had his best game of the year, skating on a new-look third line with captain Adam Lowry and Alex Iafallo. Rosen used his speed effectively against the Wild and looked far more confident with the puck, even drawing a power play for his group with a nice rush earlier in the contest.

“Better and better. I think the last two games I really showed what I can do and what I want to do every game,” Rosen said Wednesday.

“I think that’s also a thing that’s been better last two games here, shooting more and taking the puck to the net. When I play with Al and Low, I think I’m the shooter there on the line, so just makes it easy to just trying to get it to the net.”

Rookie Viggo Bjorck, who lined up on Tuesday with Gabe Vilardi and Nino Niederreiter, also used his feet to draw a hooking call against Minnesota which led to Perfetti’s game-winning power-play goal late in the second period.

“I think he’s doing a great job,” Rosen said of Bjorck, who is still searching for his first NHL point. “He’s very confident in his ability, and I think that it’s a matter of time when he’s gonna get the puck in the net, too.”

As welcome as any offence is, Winnipeg’s bread-and-butter is playing strong defence. Save for giving up five last week in their only regulation loss against Anaheim (four on backup Clay Stevenson and one empty-netter), the Jets have held their opponents to just 12 goals in the other five contests.

“I think we came right into training camp this year and we’re like, ‘We need to close faster, put more pressure, and be a defensively strong team,’” said Koepke.

“From there, you’ll kind of wear teams down and offence will come from the defensive zone. I really liked what I’ve seen from everyone, starting from the back end up with how the structure we have. I think when we play that way, it’s pretty obvious that we’re a hard team to play against.”

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