FROM THE PRESS BOX

MIKE SAYS: All good things must come to an end, right? Credit the Jets, who are doing their best to test the credibility of that sentiment. They may not all be Picassos, but the body of work is perfect.

I wondered out loud in this space on Thursday when Gabe Vilardi would break his scoring slump, and he went out and scored his first against the Kraken.

You are welcome!

Now, let’s see if I can give good luck to the remaining NHL player from returning Pierre-Luc Dubois who has yet to find the back of the net this season.

When will Alex Iafallo join Vilardi and Rasmus Kupari, who scored in the season opener? (Which, let’s be clear, I called in earlier today while doing my weekly hit Winnipeg Sports Talk with Andrew “Hustler” Paterson. True story!)

I liked the work of the fourth line this year, and it says here that Iafallo should be rewarded sooner rather than later. He’s also in a contract year, so you know he’d love to contribute with a little more offense than his two assists so far.

I’m not saying it will happen tonight – but I’m NOT saying that either!

And if I call this one correctly, look for my winning lottery numbers in the next edition of Mike Says, which will be renamed “Kreskin Says.”

KEN SAYS: We’ve spent a lot of time extolling the virtues of Kyle Connor’s offensive ability over the years – and for good reason – the Jets left winger is one of the best pure snipers in the NHL. However, it was his commitment to defense and excellent tracking back that led to a crucial play in Thursday’s overtime victory. Connor showed great ardor before lifting Oliver Bjorkstrand’s stick, stealing the puck just inside the offensive blue line to begin the sequence that led to Vilardi’s aforementioned first goal of the season. Jets center Mark Scheifele grabbed the puck quickly and found Vilardi all alone down low for the powerful move that capped the effort on the marker that made it 2-1 for the Jets.

Winnipeg Jets left winger Nikolaj Ehlers, left, celebrates his game-winning goal with teammate Mark Scheifele (55) as Seattle Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour (62) looks away during overtime Thursday. (Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press files)

Connor and Scheifele also had the assists on Nikolaj Ehlers’ OT winner. Much has been made of the five-on-five results of the Scheifele line, but when the game was on the line early this season, Scheifele and Connor were right in the middle of many of the clutch scorers that helped the Jets hold the best record in the NHL.

Points don’t always tell the whole story, but the fact that the Jets currently have six players producing at a point-per-game pace — including Scheifele, Ehlers, Connor, Perfetti, Pionk and Morrissey — and four others just below this rhythm (Nino Niederreiter, Adam Lowry, Mason Appleton and Vladislav Namestnikov) reinforce the depth they present throughout the training. Being able to rely on this depth is essential for sustained success in this league.

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

BEFORE:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi

Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers

Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton

Barron-Kupari-Iafallo

DEFENSE:

Morrissey-DeMelo

Samberg-Pionk

Stanley Miller

AIM:

Hellebuyck

Comrie

HEALTHY STRIPES: D Coghlan, D Fleury, F Gustafsson

HURT: D Heinola (ankle), F Anderson-Dolan (foot)

CALGARY FLAMES

BEFORE:

Posposil-Kadri-Kuzmenko

Zary-Backlund-Coleman

Huberdeau-Kirkland-Mantha

Lomberg-Rooney-Klapka

DEFENSE:

Bahl Andersson

Weegar-Miromanov

Bean Barrie

AIM:

Wolf

Vladar

HEALTHY STRIPES: D Pachal, D Hanley

HURT: F Sherangovich (lower body), F Honzek (upper body)

NOTABLE QUOTE

Jets winger Nikolai Ehlers on his team’s ability to overcome deficits this season:

“When we are down by one point, everything is fine. We know we have the team to get back into games and we know we will score enough goals. We are not panicking. We have the confidence to change the way we play if we are not playing well.

WHAT WE WORK ON

Ken is wrapping up this three-game road trip and you can check out analysis of the Calgary game online at winnipegfreepress.com. The monthly mailer is also scheduled to go out on Sundays, so be sure to check out the questions and answers there as well.