Perreault, Lowry back on the ice at Jets practice

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This article was published 01/02/2016 (3741 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets are getting some bodies healthy again in what will be a desperate push to a playoff spot.

The Jets return to action following the National Hockey League’s All-Star break Tuesday, at home against the Dallas Stars, nine points out of a playoff spot at 22-24-3. But as they gathered at MTS Iceplex Monday afternoon – minus all-star Dustin Byfuglien – they did have both Mathieu Perreault and Adam Lowry back on the ice.

“It’s nice to be back on the ice and back in the swing of things,” said Lowry, who spent his break in Calgary skating with the WHL’s Hitmen after suffering an upper-body injury on Jan. 14. “It’s frustrating any time you can’t help your team and if you’re forced to sit out games it’s tough. I’ll talk to the trainers and see what they have in mind, but I felt comfortable getting back to it and my body felt good.”

The Jets line combinations on Monday featured Mark Scheifele between Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little centering Perreault and Drew Stafford, Lowry in the middle with Andrew Ladd and Alex Burmistrov and Andrew Copp centering Joel Armia and Chris Thorburn.

Ondrej Pavelec also continues to get work and a decision on whether he would be activated from the injured list or have a conditioning assignment with the Manitoba Moose could be made within the next few days.

The Jets are going to need to win a good chunk of their remaining 33 games in order to leap frog the three or four teams between them and the final wild-card spot.

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“There’s just too many clichés and you fire them all because they’re all appropriate for the situation we’re in,” said Jets coach Paul Maurice. “There’s no sense worrying about the second game because you’ve got to win that first one and that’s it.

“It’s the same with a loss. A loss isn’t two in a row, it’s one in a row and you move on to the next.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait