Lots of energy as Jets prepare for opening night in Boston

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This article was published 08/10/2015 (3649 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BOSTON – The curtain comes up on another Winnipeg Jets season tonight in Beantown. And, predictably, with opening night come excitement and nerves.

The Jets were noticeably loose as they conducted their game-day skate at TD Garden in advance of tonight’s tilt with the Boston Bruins (6 p.m., TSN3/TSN 1290) as part of a four-game road trip to open the 2015-16 season.

“We have fairly lively morning skates,” said Jets coach Paul Maurice with a grin. “First game… everybody’s going to be wired up and they’ll settle into it after five or 10 minutes. Lots of energy, I think everybody’s just happy training camp is over.”

“It’s always great to be in the NHL for another season,” added Jets veteran defenceman Dustin Byfuglien, who became a father again this week with the birth of a boy. “Training camp’s over and now it’s back to work. It’s exciting. Every team has new faces in their lineup. It’s something we can all look forward to and hopefully we get off to a good start.

“We’re a hard-working team. That ain’t going to change from last year. We’ve got some more skill guys and added some size. We’ve got some guys coming in with some great hands and it’s fun to watch these guys play.”

Nic Petan is one of those young guns making his NHL debut. He’ll have six people in the crowd rooting for him tonight, including his mom and dad and his brother.

“It kind of feels surreal,” said Petan. “I was thinking about it last night before bed… you’re in this situation and it’s just pretty cool. You’re getting all these texts from your friends and it’s a surreal feeling. I want to take advantage of this opportunity.

“Most people are just telling me to enjoy it. You only get to play in your first NHL game once, so enjoy it, have fun, try not to be too nervous and enjoy the moment.”

Ditto for Nikolaj Ehlers, who will play his first NHL game working on a line with Mark Scheifele and Mathieu Perreault..

“This is pretty cool. I’m excited,” said Ehlers, who has a Danish friend and his son driving down from Halifax to watch the game tonight. “I’m just going to go out there and enjoy my first game, but it’s an important game now.

“It was definitely a proud moment for me when I heard earlier in the week that I was on the team. But tonight is going to be a moment I’m never going to forget.”

Maurice said his message to Petan and Ehlers is the same one he’s delivered to all rookies in the past.

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“They get the speech,” he said. “At the end of the day it boils down to you only get one of them (first game). They’ve worked hard. And, as you all know, no player gets here alone – families, brothers, sisters, support, billets. All the people that go into getting you to the National Hockey League, it’s too many to call. So the best thing you can do is enjoy all of it, take it all in, try to remember the game, if they can, when it’s over because it’s the only one they get.”

The Bruins will be without defencemen Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg tonight; Chara is close to returning while Seidenberg is likely out for at least another month.

The goaltending duel features Ondrej Pavelec for the Jets and Tuukka Rask for the Bruins.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait