Scheifele hopeful he’ll be on the ice for the Jets Tuesday

By: Ed Tait Posted: 2:07 PM CST Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016

Mark Scheifele won’t mince words. Being away from his Winnipeg Jets teammates and the game he loves, well, it…

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Mark Scheifele won’t mince words. Being away from his Winnipeg Jets teammates and the game he loves, well, it…

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This article was published 24/01/2016 (3526 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mark Scheifele won’t mince words. Being away from his Winnipeg Jets teammates and the game he loves, well, it…

“Obviously, it sucks,” said the Jets centre Sunday after practice. “Hopefully I can continue to make good progress out there tomorrow and be ready to play on Tuesday (against Arizona)

“I’m pain free. It’s feeling good, I feel confident on the ice and I just want to continue to feel better every day and get more and more into game shape and be ready for Tuesday.”

Phil Hossack / Free Press files
The goal-starved Jets – they have just four in their last four games and have been held to a goal or less in 10 of their last 16 -- could certainly use Mark Scheifele's scoring touch. — Phil Hossack / Free Press files The goal-starved Jets – they have just four in their last four games and have been held to a goal or less in 10 of their last 16 -- could certainly use Mark Scheifele's scoring touch.

The goal-starved Jets – they have just four goals in their last four games and have been held to a goal or less in 10 of their last 16 — could certainly use him. Scheifele has been out since crashing into the boards near the end of a game in Dallas on Jan. 7, his second visit to the injured list since Christmas after crashing into Andrew Ladd in a practice on Boxing Day.

“I was probably the most pain I’ve ever been in,” said Scheifele. “I just smacked… I went knee-first into the boards and my shin pad came up and there wasn’t really anything to protect it and I was going in full speed, too. I made the play to Matty (Perreault) and tried to take a step on it because I didn’t really feel it yet. And then I took a step on that leg and I couldn’t even bear it… it was killing me. Definitely that night was tough. It was pretty sore and I wasn’t sure what was going on with it.”

With Drew Stafford and Alex Burmistrov taking ‘maintenance days’ and Mathieu Perreualt’s status still unclear – he was to undergo further tests Sunday – the Jets forward lines featured some new combinations on Sunday.

Scheifele was working between Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler, with Bryan Little at centre with Andrew Ladd and Joel Armia and Andrew Copp centering Matt Halischuk and Chris Thorburn. Patrice Cormier and Anthony Peluso were the other two forwards who were on the ice.

“Mark (Scheifele) back in for practice… it just changes the way practice looks,” said Jets coach Paul Maurice. “You can see it if you’re upstairs: it’s just faster. Pucks are moving on the tape, Nikolaj and Blake are picking up speed through the neutral zone. I liked Blake at centre ice, too (in Saturday’s loss to New Jersey). It’s something we feel we have to do, but going forward when you’ve got Mathieu out and Scheif out and Lowry out and Burmi not at 100 per cent now you at least feel you’ve got something to go to.”

The Jets, who have lost three straight and are 3-6-1 in their last 10, face the Coyotes Tuesday at MTS Centre in what will be their final game before the NHL All-Star break.

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait