Nyquist looks to impress on top line

SALT LAKE CITY — The latest spin of the Winnipeg Jets’ line blender produced a surprising concoction on Saturday.

Step right up, Gustav Nyquist. You’re up next to take a twirl alongside top scorers Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor.

“Hopefully lightning in a bottle here and we get something to build off,” Jets coach Scott Arniel told the Free Press following his team’s practice.

While at first blush this may seem like a curious move — Nyquist has yet to score a single goal in 25 games this year — what do the Jets have to lose at this point? Winnipeg has now dropped 16 of its last 22 games, including the first two stops on this three-game road trip which ends Sunday against the Utah Mammoth.

“We brought Gus in for offence, to help pick up the offensive side of the game for us. Where he was playing I don’t think he was getting enough opportunity,” Arniel said of the switch.

“He’s a guy that has great vision, can make plays. Playing with those two, hopefully that’s a spark for him and a little bit of a spark for those guys as well. It helps me maybe get some offence off some other lines, with Gabe (Vilardi) dropping down one.”

Nyquist has been a healthy scratch for several games this year and began Friday night’s game in Colorado on the fourth line. But he showed some early signs of life and, by the third period, was bumped up to the top power play unit. He quickly found Scheifele for a tap-in goal that cut the deficit to 3-2, which would be the final score.

“Super excited to play with those guys. Two of the best players in the league,” said Nyquist, who signed a one-year free agent deal with the Jets last summer that pays him US$3.25 million.

So far, he has seven assists to show for the investment. That’s a stark contrast to Scheifele and Connor, who are tied for the team lead in points with 41.

“Obviously I want to produce more offence here, so this will be a great chance for me,” said Nyquist. “At the end of the day I’m just worried about winning right now. We have to win games. That’s all I’m focused on. Obviously it helps if other guys can score, too.”

The Jets will face a Mammoth club that is five points ahead of them, adding an extra sense of urgency.

“We’ve got one big game here before Christmas to go in and kind of feel good about what we’ve been doing here the last few games, although we haven’t got all the results we’ve wanted,” said Nyquist.

“We feel like as a group we’ve done a lot of good things. Big game here, then reset for Christmas and come back with a good push.”

As Arniel noted, Vilardi has been moved down to skate on the second line beside the slumping Vlad Namestnikov (one assist in the last 22 games) and the struggling Cole Perfetti (two goals in 20 games this year, benched for the third period Friday against the Avalanche).

The third line of Morgan Barron, Adam Lowry and Alex Iafallo remains intact, while Nino Niederreiter (no points in 10 games) is knocked down to the fourth line along with Jonathan Toews (one assist in 18 games) and Tanner Pearson. Cole Koepke looks to be a healthy scratch for a second straight game.

On the blue line, it appears like the Jets will make one change. Colin Miller is expected to draw in on the third pair beside Logan Stanley, bumping Haydn Fleury to the press box along with Luke Schenn. The Stanley-Fleury duo struggled against Colorado and were on the ice for a pair of first period goals against.

“It’s a frustrating time for everybody,” Miller said of the club, which captured the Presidents’ Trophy last season with a 56-22-4 record and are currently just 15-17-2.

“But there’s parts of our game that are improving and definitely parts of our game that we like. We’ve gotta focus on that.”

Perhaps Friday’s loss can serve as a spark. Although it was the same tired old result, the Jets made the league-leading Avalanche earn it.

“There’s no clear solution to this. We’ve got to just keep bearing down, working hard, winning our battles and keep improving,” said Miller.

Although nobody was doing cartwheels during Saturday’s skate, there was a noticeably lighter mood in the air as the team went through various drills. More chatter, and even a few smiles and laughs.

“Gloom and doom and hanging our heads here isn’t going to help,” said Arniel.

“We’ve been going through a tough spell. We’ve been getting the quiet anger-type days. There were some good things (Friday) night against a really good hockey team that we have to take into (Sunday). There’s lots of things as a coach I didn’t like, but there were also some positives.”

Utah visited Winnipeg earlier this season and skated away with a 3-2 victory. Their most recent outing was a 2-1 loss on home ice Friday night to the New Jersey Devils.

“They’ve got some forwards that can go,” sad Arniel.

“A lot like the Colorado game, we’ve got to try and stay away from trading chances with them and getting people caught on the wrong side and allowing numbers to come. They’re good at that. Like a lot of teams, everyone recognizes defending is huge in this league and they’ve done a better job with that as well.”

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