DALLAS – Blake Wheeler has found another level.

And that’s saying something when you consider the captain of the Winnipeg Jets is coming off consecutive 70-plus point seasons.

By chipping in four assists in Monday’s 4-1 victory, Wheeler has picked up four goals and 13 points during his past five games and he’s up to 21 points in 14 games and he’s moved into third place in NHL scoring.

“It’s obviously the cliché and everyone wants to win and all that. But that’s it. It’s all I care about and I won’t talk about the individual stuff,” said Wheeler. “Our line has one mindset, it’s to set the pace for the team.”

The Jets, who improved to 8-3-3 on the season, continue a three-game road trip on Friday against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Since the Jets relocated from Atlanta in 2011, Wheeler has grown into a dominant power forward, using his size and speed to create scoring opportunities for both himself and his linemates.

Wheeler does more than just produce points, he’s grown into his role as captain, leading by example and often driving his team both on and off the ice.

He’s also combined with linemate Mark Scheifele to form one of the NHL’s most dynamic duos.

Just last week, Scheifele called Wheeler the favourite linemate he’s ever had and the chemistry between the two is obvious.

They’ve clearly pushed one another to be better.

“You see what he does each and every practice, each and every game, he pushes to the limit and he works his hardest,” said Scheifele. “He’s a guy that’s pushed me every since I came to this team and continues to push me to be the best I can be. He’s a very big mentor of mine.”

While Wheeler leads the Jets in scoring, Scheifele is a close second, with 19 points.

“Right from the day those two guys got together, there was some real good chemistry,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. “Blake is always driving to get better and you know Mark is like that too. Their game is becoming more and more direct. Because of that, with that speed they have, it’s pretty darn effective.”

On Monday, Wheeler assisted on all three of the Jets first-period goals.

Scheifele scored just 26 seconds into the contest, ripping a shot from the middle of the circle past Ben Bishop.

Wheeler was also involved before Patrik Laine blistered home a shot from the half wall for a power-play marker at 5:12 of the first period.

Laine continues to make life difficult for the Stars.

In his young career, Laine now has 10 goals and 14 points in seven games against them.

After the Jets allowed the Stars to hang around, Wheeler feathered a perfect saucer pass on a two-on-one rush with Kyle Connor, who scored his third goal since being recalled from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League on October 16.

Maurice bumped Connor up to the top line during the second period of the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 17, simply looking for a spark.

What he ended up finding with the switch was a player who has fit in extremely well and raised his own level of play, chipping in three goals and six points in nine games this season.

Scheifele rounded out the scoring with an empty-net goal, giving him a team-leading nine on the season.

The Jets struggled with the man-advantage to start the season, going just five-for-37 through 11 games, sitting near the bottom of the league at the time.

But with Laine’s power-play marker on Monday, the Jets have scored six times during the past three games and the unit currently resides in the upper third of the NHL efficiency rankings.

As well as the Jets have been doing on the power play, the penalty killing units have gone cold recently.

Stars captain Jamie Benn added to those woes with a second-period goal that cut the Jets lead to two goals.

Maurice challenged the play for goalie interference and while there appeared to be some contact in the blue paint between Benn and Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, the goal stood after video review.

After having a potential goal taken off the board in Saturday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, Maurice was incensed at the call and cameras caught him voicing his displeasure to the officials.

But as he’s done many times this season, Hellebuyck helped calm things down, standing tall whenever the Stars made a push.

As he made a fifth consecutive start (and 10th in the past 12 games), Hellebuyck showed once again that his strong showing between the pipes might be the new normal for him.

By making 33 saves, Hellebuyck was able to continue to reside among the league leaders in both goals-against average and save percentage.

And his ability to provide elite-level goaltending remains one of the big reasons the Jets have collected at least a point in eight games (5-0-3) and find themselves alongside the top teams in the Central Division and Western Conference.

kwiebe@postmedia.com

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