Jets at Devils
Patrik Laine ended one of the best months for any player in NHL history with a flourish and hopes to continue producing when December begins as his Winnipeg Jets visit the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. Laine scored twice in Thursday’s 6-5 victory at Chicago to finish with the most goals (18) in a calendar month in almost 25 years and became the fourth-youngest player to reach 100 goals in his career.
“I knew (100) was going to come eventually,” the 20-year-old Laine told reporters after scoring the most goals in any month since Pavel Bure recorded 19 in March 1994. “When you work hard you’re going to get it at some point. Good to get it out of the way and try to chase 200 now. It was a good win.” Wayne Gretzky, Jimmy Carson and Brian Bellows are the only players to reach 100 at a younger age than Laine, who had a goal in eight of 12 games last month to push his season total to a league-high 21 and a point in nine of them, but was blanked in a 5-2 victory over New Jersey on Nov. 11. The Devils have lost four straight and six of seven after a 6-3 loss at Washington on Friday, dropping to the bottom of the Metropolitan Division after a 4-0-0 start. Reigning Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall had two assists against the Capitals to reach 500 career points and is two goals from 200.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sportsnet360, CITY (Winnipeg), MSG Plus 2 (New Jersey)
ABOUT THE JETS (14-8-2): While Laine was grabbing all the headlines in November, fellow forward Nikolaj Ehlers was finding his top form with seven goals and 11 points in 12 games after his hat trick Thursday. “He’s just one of those really dynamic guys and when he’s on his game he’s really tough to get a handle on,” Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler told reporters of Ehlers, who had one goal in October. “He darts in and out of holes; he’s proven he can be a pretty explosive scorer.” The Jets are inexperienced on the blueline with Joe Morrow (lower body) questionable and Dustin Byfuglien (concussion) along with Dmitry Kulikov (upper body) out.
ABOUT THE DEVILS (9-11-4): Hall leads the team with 26 points and Kyle Palmieri (team-best 12 goals, nine assists) is second with 21, but the veteran right wing has only one point in his last seven contests. Former first-overall pick Nico Hischier (15 points) snapped a mini slump with a goal and an assist Friday and fellow center Travis Zajac ended a six-game point drought with his eighth tally of the season. The Devils are not getting much help from their power play, which is 1-of-28 over the last 12 games after coming up empty in five attempts against Washington, and they have given up 19 goals during their current losing streak (0-2-2).
OVERTIME
1. New Jersey F Michael McLeod, the 12th-overall pick in the 2016 draft, logged 5:36 of ice time in his NHL debut Friday.
2. Wheeler leads the Jets with 32 points and registered one goal to go along with six assists in the past three games.
3. Winnipeg has won the last five meetings with the Devils after C Mark Scheifele scored twice earlier this month.