Trio of damaged Jets on the mend

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This article was published 12/03/2016 (3493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three injured Winnipeg Jets players may be back in action before too many more games go by.

Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice said Saturday that Nikolaj Ehlers, Joel Armia and Mark Stuart are on the mend, and all three have been back on the ice since their injuries.

Winger Anthony Peluso, however, is finished for the season. The coach said Peluso had successful surgery on his shoulder and is into a 16-week recovery period. Peluso went down early in a game March 3 against the New York Islanders, tripping over the goalie and into the net.

The coach said Ehlers had a checkup with a specialist and can now do light activity. The rookie forward was cut near the eye by his shattered visor at the end of the March 3 game.

“He had his appointment on Thursday,” the coach said. “It went very, very well. The next block of time is a seven-day block coming to (next) Thursday where he has very, very light activity.

“So he was on the ice (Saturday) morning in his equipment on his own. It’s all about heart rate. We’re not pushing him right now. If everything goes very well to next Thursday, it’s going to be OK to increase the activity and the blood flow,” Maurice said.

“Where it goes after that I’m not sure. My general assessment is that things are going really well right now and we’re very, very happy with his (progress).”

Armia, out with a lower-body injury since March 6, is likely on a week away from returning. He has been skating recently, Maurice said.

Stuart, out since mid-February with what’s surely a broken hand after blocking a shot, is also back on the ice.

“He’s back skating and this is just waiting for a bone to heal,” Maurice said.

“So he can get pushed harder now on the ice. The day that the doc says his injury is healed, he’s playing the next day.”

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Jets winger Marko Dano got one bit of business out of the way earlier this week when he scored his first goal for his new team.

Dano put home Mathieu Perreault’s centring pass Thursday night in Detroit.

“(Perreault) made a play and it was a good one and I’m glad to have the first one,” Dano said. “It’s nice to get the first one and now I think I can keep going and work hard and play my simple game. And I’ll just be focused on the game. So it is a little bit of relief.”

He said the goal, his second of the NHL season (the other was as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks), will allow him to concentrate on more important things ahead.

“I’m getting comfortable every game and every shift on the ice,” the 21-year-old said. “Now, it’s just about getting some chemistry going with guys on the ice and it’s going to be better and better.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca