The Winnipeg Jets were coming off an emotional victory over the Washington Capitals and would be trying to keep the good vibes going against the visiting New Jersey Devils. The Jersey Boys were severely short-handed, missing both of the Hughes brothers and one of their best defensemen. Lets find out if the True Northers could take advantage of that to come away with a couple of important points….
GAME RECAP
The fans at the Canada Life Centre were treated to an explosive start by the Jets when the puck dropped at 7 pm Central. On just the second shift of the contest, Winnipeg’s top line brought the crowd to their feet when Mark Scheifele skated up the right wing before threading a cross-ice pass to Kyle Connor in the left face-off circle. The pass had New Jersey’s Jake Allen over-commit for the shot, so the new dad passed the puck to the slot, allowing linemate Alex Iafallo the chance to spin before sending a backhand into the yawning net. WPG 1-0. The Jets kept up the pressure and less than a minute later, a shot by Brandon Tanev created a rebound that Morgan Barron popped out to David Gustafsson, who gave the home club an early two goal lead with a pair of markers in rapid succession (54 secs). WPG 2-0. The True Northers kept up the attack for another 5 minutes, but a goalie interference penalty on Vladislav Namestnikov gave the Devils a chance to get back into the game. A solid penalty kill by Winnipeg allowed only 1 shot on net, but NJ did use the momentum gained to start controlling the puck a bit more as the period progressed. Eventually, the Jets’ offense woke up again and a late push saw Cole Perfetti, Dylan Samberg, Josh Morrissey, & Luke Schenn get quality looks on the Devils’ net.
The 2nd period might just be the perfect cure for insomnia, as the two franchises combined for only 2 shots in the first 12 minutes of the middle frame. Things picked up a bit when Colin Miller was flagged for a trip, giving New Jersey their 2nd powerplay of the match. This man-advantage came close to breaking the shutout, when Connor Hellebuyck’s inability to quickly cover a rebound saw the Devils ring the puck off a post but fortunately the rest of the kill was rather uneventful. Miller redeemed himself for his infraction when he came out of the box and immediately drew a NJ penalty on a rush up the right wing. Winnipeg’s powerplay has been struggling, but they were able to get set up quickly, allowing a bit of a cycle before Scheifele set up Morrissey for a 1 timer from the point. A big rebound was created and Nikolaj Ehlers did a fantastic job to knock the puck towards the uncovered side of the Devils’ net, letting Iafallo bang it home before Allen could recover his positioning. WPG 3-0. As the period neared it’s conclusion, the True Northers attempted one last rush and it ended with Connor bouncing a shot off the back boards and Scheifele hustling in to poke the puck by Allen before he could react. WPG 4-0.
The Winnipeg Jets did lay back a bit too much in the 3rd period, getting out-shot 11-4 by the visiting New Jersey Devils. However, even with another penalty to kill off, the defense did a solid job of keeping the shots to the outside (allowed no high danger attempts against all game). There were some nice moments for us fans in the final frame too, including Schenn rubbing out the Devils’ Ondrej Palat and a Jets’ 2 on 1 that saw Nino Niederreiter set up Perfetti for a good scoring chance. In the end, New Jersey didn’t really threaten Bucky’s shutout bid as the former Vezina Trophy winner picked up his league leading 7th blank of the season.
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FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 4 NEW JERSEY DEVILS 0
FINAL STATS
Shots: 24-19 NJ / Hits: 31-22 NJ / Face-Offs: 50.0% TIE / x Goals: 2.76 WPG – 1.92 NJ /
MoneyPuck’s Deserve to Win: 64% WPG / High-Medium Danger Scoring Chances: 10 to 8 WPG
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SCORING SUMMARY from ESPN
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SHOT CHART from MoneyPuck
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ADVANCED SKATER STATS from MoneyPuck
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GOALIE STATS from ESPN & MoneyPuck
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If you would like to dive deeper into the game’s stats, follow the links below to the game pages:
MoneyPuck: New Jersey Devils vs. Winnipeg Jets – Friday March 28 2025 – MoneyPuck.com
NaturalStatTrick: New Jersey Devils @ Winnipeg Jets, 2025-03-28
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BOJA’s Observations:
- Connor Hellebuyck’s league leading 7th shut out of the year is also the most blanks Bucky has had in a season. Stopped all 24 shots he faced and had a +1.92 Goals Saved Above Expected against the Devils. The big guy looked focused and calm in between the pipes on Friday, possibly his best start for the Jets since the 4 Nations tournament ended?
- Alex Iafallo’s big game while filling in for the injured Gabriel Vilardi. Pocketed his first of the match on his 1st shift and then added a powerplay marker later. The versatile winger also led Winnipeg with 3 shots on net against New Jersey and the Jets had 62.5% of the expected goals when he was on the ice.
- Dominant with a lead after 2 periods, the Winnipeg Jets are 37-0-1 in 2024-25 in those situations. That tells me that coach Scott Arniel really should be stressing the importance of starting a game off strong. If our club can manage to get early leads, it will make the chances of a long playoff run all the more likely.
- Special teams update: Winnipeg’s powerplay goes 1 for 1 to improve to 30.1%, tied with the Golden Knights for the lead in the NHL after briefly falling into 2nd place. **VEG did go 1 for 2 in their game to retake sole possession of 1st.** While the Jets’ PK went 3 for 3 to move up to 79.3% on the season.
- David Gustafsson got inserted into the lineup at the last moment and he filled in admirably. The 4th line played well (77.8% xG) and the Gus Bus scored his 2nd goal of the campaign, giving him 6 points in his last 15 games.
- With the win, the Winnipeg Jets’ magic number is now at 7 and the team will wait to see how the Dallas Stars do against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night.
The True Northers get a day off on a busy Saturday for the NHL (22 of 32 franchises in action) while they prepare for the final game of this homestand. After that, 5 of the final 8 contests will be away from the Canada Life Centre.
UP NEXT: Vancouver Canucks @ Winnipeg Jets – Sunday, March 30th @ 2:00 pm CST
