Perreault hoping return to lineup energizes Jets tonight

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This article was published 12/01/2016 (3555 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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No one in the camp of the Winnipeg Jets is ready to declare it crunch time just yet. But every day that passes on the hockey calendar with them staring up at the teams ahead of them in playoff positions also represents the window of opportunity slowly closing on them.

And so tonight’s game against the San Jose Sharks at MTS Centre (7 p.m.; TSN3/TSN 1290) might officially be just the 43rd of the regular season, but the clock is ticking on the Jets making some sort of move. This will be the second game in a stretch that has the Jets playing nine of 10 at home, beginning with Sunday’s 4-2 loss to Buffalo.

“We’re getting that point in the season if we don’t find a way to string some wins together consistently we’re going to be looking from the outside,” said Jets centre Bryan Little. “We’re just trying to get something going at home right now. It would have been nice to win that first one at home to get something going, but we can’t go back and un-do that so the best thing is to win tonight and hopefully get something rolling.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve been struggling on the road, but it’s been harder for us to get road wins this year. We definitely have to take advantage of (the homestand) otherwise the season might slip away from us.”

The Jets will be meeting a Sharks team that is playing on back-to-back nights – they knocked off Calgary 5-4 Monday — and third game in four days after pasting Toronto 7-0 on Saturday. Winnipeg will be without Mark Scheifele, who is likely out until next week with a lower-body injury, but will have Mathieu Perreault in the lineup. Perreault injured his back in Sunday’s loss and did not finish the game. He was experiencing enough pain afterward that the Jets medical staff had him taken by ambulance to hospital for tests.

“I was having a little bit of trouble breathing and my left lung was hurting when I took deep breaths,” said Perreault. “I wasn’t too sure what was going on and they didn’t want to take any chances. They didn’t know if something was wrong with the spleen, so that’s what led to the big scene. I got a little worried. You see the ambulance and all these doctors around you… I got a little nervous.”

And now Perreault wants to continue to make sure he is doing his part to keep the compete level cranked up from puck drop to the final horn. Especially after the dud against Buffalo.

“We didn’t seem to have energy on the bench,” said Perreault. “The game wasn’t quite right, I would say, so tonight we’ve got to find a way to get fired up. Those are big games and if we want to have any chance of making the playoffs we’ve got to win those games. We’ve got to know that and come prepared that way.”

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait

 

THE HOMESTAND

The Jets play eight of their next nine at MTS Centre – the lone exception coming this Friday in Minnesota. Here’s a look at what is remaining:

Jan. 10 – vs. Buffalo – 4-2 L
Jan. 12 – vs. San Jose
Jan. 14 – vs. Nashville
Jan. 15 – @ Minnesota
Jan. 18 – vs. Colorado
Jan. 21 – vs. Nashville
Jan. 23 – vs. New Jersey
Jan. 26 – vs. Arizona
Feb. 2 – vs. Dallas
Feb. 5 – vs. Carolina

 

JETS PROJECTED LINES

Stafford-Little-Wheeler
Ladd-Lowry-Burmistrov
Ehlers-Perreault-Thorburn
Armia-Copp-Peluso
D PAIRINGS
Trouba-Byfuglien
Enstrom-Myers
Stuart-Chiarot
GOALTENDERS
Hellebuyck (starter)
Hutchinson

 

SHARKS PROJECTED LINES

Hertl-Thornton-Pavelski
Nieto-Marleau-Ward
Donskoi-Couture-Wingels
Karlsson-Tierney-Brown
D PAIRINGS
Vlasic-Braun
Martin-Burns
Dillon-DeMelo
GOALTENDERS
Jones
Stalock