Connor hoping to continue hot streak, aid Jets playoff push

“It’s one thing to be a playmaker,” Arniel said. “It’s another thing to be a shooter. But he’s a type of guy that he gets in around anywhere inside that inner circle, inner area, the front of the net there, his release and his quickness, his ability to put it in spots where he’s pre-scouted the goalie, he’s really good at doing those things.”

And he’s even better with Scheifele by his side. 

“A lot of it is just instinctual,” Scheifele said. “Just the way we read the game, but there’s a lot of conversations behind closed doors, things we need to work on, things we need to focus on. He’s such a brilliant hockey mind but also has the skill to match it.

“He’s just been incredible to play with. I’m very lucky.”

Watch the two of them and the connection is notable. Anywhere Connor needs Scheifele to be, there he is, and it’s the same the other way around. They have a feel for, an understanding of what the other needs, where they’ll be, what they’re thinking. 

“I think if you go back in history, you look at every great goal scorer, playmaker … it’s always a tandem,” Arniel said. “It’s [Mike] Bossy and [Bryan] Trottier. I’m aging myself. But there’s [Jari] Kurri and [Wayne] Gretzky, and it goes on and on. And those two, that’s what they do well.

“You can see just the recognition, or if one heads left the other one head right, or one cuts back, one moves forward. They have an ability to find each other and they play so much together, they practice so much together, that that chemistry is built.”

Given how many of their points have come together, it’s notable that both can instantly recall that first moment, that first connection. How they both knew, immediately, that something special was coming – both in their ability to work together and also in Connor, himself. 

“It just built from there,” Connor said. “It’s been incredible.”