It’s been rare of late for Mark Scheifele to not find the scoresheet in a game for the Winnipeg Jets, but Tuesday night was one of those occurrences.
With much anticipation leading up to the team’s return home before the 4 Nations break, and Scheifele on the cusp of delivering a franchise-record 329th goal, it seemed like the perfect spot for the stars to align and history to unfold.
As it sits, the record-setting will now need to wait until at least Friday, when the Jets next hit the ice, but what’s another few days or even a week or two when you’ve waited 14 years for an organizational goal-scoring milestone to be owned by a Winnipeg Jet?
And therein lies the most important part of the record that’s about to fall, as the further the Jets push on in Winnipeg, the more distant the franchise’s beginnings in Atlanta become.
In other words, when Scheifele officially surpasses Ilya Kovalchuk for the all-time goal-scoring record — they are currently tied with 328 — Winnipeg’s stamp on the franchise certainly becomes even more prominent.
For obvious reasons, it’s difficult to even acknowledge the previous history of the team, but respectfully, the annals of the former Atlanta Thrashers did make the move north from Georgia to Manitoba almost 15 years ago.
And the fact that a player like Scheifele – Winnipeg’s first-ever draft pick and exclusively a Jet for 852 games and counting — is about to top the list for career goals speaks to the ownership this city has now secured of the team and vice versa.
It’s simple: Winnipeg Jets records are now being owned by Winnipeg Jets — and that is significant.
Sure, Mark Scheifele didn’t score a goal Tuesday night to break the record but the next time he does, it will probably be one of the most important goals in the franchise’s history to find the scoresheet.