Petan, Armia, Matthias ‘really, really close’

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This article was published 17/12/2016 (3259 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Reinforcements are en route for the Winnipeg Jets.

Injured forwards Shawn Matthias, Joel Armia and Nic Petan skated with the NHL team Saturday morning at the MTS Iceplex and are just days from returning to the lineup.

“Really, really close,” said head coach Paul Maurice, following practice. “I would expect green lights on maybe all three of them over the next three games. I’ll talk to Robbie (head athletic therapist Rob Milette) about one of them possibly for (Sunday) and, if not, I think we’re going to get a green light going into (Vancouver) on one or maybe all three.”

The Jets play host to the Colorado Avalanche Sunday at 2 p.m. at the MTS Centre and then head west for a pair of games in Vancouver Tuesday and Thursday.

Matthias, who has missed 23 games with a lower-body injury sustained Nov. 1 against the Washington Capitals, is itching to get going.

“If you weren’t, there’d be something wrong with you,” said the veteran left-winger. “I’m looking forward to getting back out with the guys, I’ve worked extremely hard. It’s so tough when you’re hurt and you’re just on the table and not seeing the guys a whole lot, so it’s nice to be back around them and to be getting closer and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Matthias and Armia developed some chemistry playing with centre Adam Lowry before the wingers were felled by injuries.

“We were gaining some trust playing against some of the other teams’ top lines. We had a lot of responsibility. And then for Joel and I to go down with injuries was tough,” said Matthias. “But at the same time, it builds character. We could have pouted and felt sorry for ourselves, but we didn’t do that. We took the other approach, we were working out the very day after the injuries, both of us.”

Armia suffered a lower-body injury two nights after Matthias went down in a rematch with Washington and has missed 22 contests, while Petan has been sidelined for nine games (lower-body).

P.K. troubles 

The visiting Florida Panthers feasted on the Jets penalty killers Thursday, scoring all three of their goals on the power play. Winnipeg defenceman Toby Enstrom took three minor penalties in the second period and the Panthers capitalized on each opportunity with the man advantage to lead 3-2 after 40 minutes.

Jets centre Bryan Little scored the tying goal early in the third period and Mathieu Perreault fired the winning goal in the sixth round of the shootout to lift the hosts to a 4-3 triumph.

Pocketing two points relieved some of the pressure from the penalty-killing unit, which is operating at just a 75.6 per cent efficiency rating — 28th out of 30 teams in the NHL.

Left-winger Brandon Tanev wasn’t proud of the performance against the Florida.

“That’s a role I like to play, so at the end of a day, like, I’m not very happy. I know I have to be better on the penalty kill,” he said. ‘We came out with the two points and you might look at it differently if the result was different, but at the same time you’ve got to look at the shifts on the penalty kill and just think overall we have to be better.”

Tanev said the Jets allowed the Panthers way too much time to move up the ice, gain the offensive zone and set up shop.

Maurice agreed, adding the unit’s confidence is frayed.

“We’ve just gotten ourselves to a point that we had absolutely no up-ice pressure, no stand at the line, so we spent an awful lot of time in that tight box (in their own end) trying to pick up seams. And teams will pick you apart,” he said. “Forcing yourself into a more aggressive up-ice posture and forcing yourself to be more aggressive at the line, understanding that every once in a while you get beat doing that, that’s the push… that’s the starting point.

“As soon as you fail at something, you’re less confident. And there isn’t a lot of confidence there and we haven’t earned the right to be confident.”

Scoring slump

Jets left-winger Nikolaj Ehlers owned the puck on a couple of shifts against the Panthers, pulled off a couple of nifty moves and finished with six shots on goalie Roberto Luongo. But he had nothing to show for the tremendous effort.

The 20-year-old Danish forward has just one goal in his last 18 games.

To suggest he’s struggling offensively wouldn’t be a fair assessment considering his 19 assists rank him 15th in the league in that category.

But the guy who scored 86 goals in 114 junior games with the Halifax Mooseheads and then fired 15 in his rookie campaign with Winnipeg has been snake-bitten in his sophomore NHL season — yet, he’s not getting down on himself.

“I guess I’m not shocked. We’re playing against the best goalies in the world and they’re playing for a reason,” he said. “I am getting big chances. I’d be worried if I wasn’t getting those chances. I feel good and confident right now. And honestly I just hope it’s a matter of time before they go in.”

Ehlers is crazy-fast and he demonstrated that Friday during the Jets Skills Competition at the MTS Centre, setting a competition record for racing around the rink with a blazing time of 13.29 seconds.

“My legs feel good, I’m using my speed as much as I can and I think I did that really well against Florida,” he said.

NOTES: The Jets are 7-4-1 against Central Division teams this season, including 4-0-0 at home… The Jets allowed three second-period goals by the Panthers Thursday and been outscored 47-22 in the middle frame this season. It’s the most goals an NHL team has allowed in any period this season… Rookie RW Patrik Laine has just one goal in his last six games, but was third in the league with 17 goals and topped all NHL rookies with 26 points in 33 games prior to Saturday’s action… RW Chris Thorburn led the NHL with eight major penalties this season, going into Saturday’s games.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca          

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell