Scheifele expects intensity from Subban, D

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This article was published 24/04/2018 (2720 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mark Scheifele can expect to see a lot of P.K. Subban in the coming days. But the Jets centre said he’s not focused on what appears to be a pretty intense personal rivalry between the two that saw them nearly come to blows on a couple occasions during the regular season.

“He plays an intense game just like their whole team does… all their D play hard. We have to expect that, not just me. Every guy on this team has to be ready for that intensity,” Scheifele said following Tuesday’s practice.

And if things start to get chippy again?

“I’m just going to play my game. I play a hard game defensively and offensively and I just want to continue to play the way I have all season long and last series. Obviously, intensity is going to ramp up but you’ve just got to keep your cool out there and have fun with it,” said Scheifele.

“I just play hockey. There’s going to be slashes and cross-checks and hits and there’s going to be a million of those this series. But we’re here to play hockey, to try to beat the other team and that’s what I try to do every day. I’m going to battle when it’s time to battle, play D when it’s time to play D and play offence when it’s time to play offence. That’s what I try to do every night.”

Jets head coach Paul Maurice said he’s not worried about shenanigans taking over.

“It’s not a big deal in the game, players are so used to it. They push and shove and call each other names and then they go back to the bench and we drop the puck,” he said.

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Patrik Laine was unable to make it to the end of a second straight practice, leaving the ice early Tuesday, as he also did Sunday.

But Maurice insisted following the skate there’s nothing to see here.

“I don’t have any concerns. He’s been hanging around with Nikky (Ehlers) too much, caught the malaise.

“It’s a light malaise, though, it’s low-fat,” Maurice said.

The term “malaise” is a reference is to what he said Ehlers was suffering from when he missed Friday’s Game 5 against the Minnesota Wild. Ehlers later admitted he had no idea what malaise meant, without revealing whether he was dealing with an illness or injury.

Ehlers was in a non-contact jersey at Sunday’s practice, but back to his normal sweater on Tuesday and appears good to go.

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In other injury news, the one player the Jets absolutely can’t afford to lose had a bit of a scare Tuesday.

Goalie Connor Hellebuyck was a bit rattled after captain Blake Wheeler buzzed a hard shot off his mask. He took a few minutes to gather himself but was able to continue.

“You never want to see that, but he’s a tough guy. It was just a stinger,” Scheifele said.

Maurice said he quickly looked over to see what happened — and took some solace in the immediate reaction from goalie coach Wade Flaherty.

“I looked at Wade’s face. Wade had a half-smile on his face, so I thought we were good. If he had been tearing up then I might have been more concerned,” said Maurice.

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Joel Armia returned to practice Tuesday, wearing a non-contact jersey, after leaving last Friday’s game and then missing Sunday’s skate. Maurice had no further update on his status.

None of forward Matthieu Perreault (injured in Game 1), defenceman Dmitry Kulikov and goalie Steve Mason skated Tuesday.

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Paul Stastny has been down this road before — beating Minnesota in the first round, then facing Nashville in the second round.

He’s hoping for a different outcome. Stastny’s St. Louis Blues beat the Wild last year, then lost to the Predators.

“They’re a good team and you knew that. It was the same thing they did (during the regular season). They come at you in swarms, they have good goaltending, a lot of good D-men, a tough building to play in but a fun building to play in.

“It gets loud, it’s almost like (Bell MTS Place), it’s not as big an area, so it’s almost like (the fans) are sitting on top of you. You feed off the crowd and you’ve got to do everything you can to silence the crowd,” Stastny said Tuesday of his memories from that playoff run.

“There’s no easy match. You know it’s going to be a tight match-up from both sides, but that’s what makes it fun and makes every shift so important just because you never who you’re going out there against and if you know if that one draw can make the difference in the game.”

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Wheeler is a finalist for the NHL’s 2017-18 Mark Messier Leadership Award.

He joins Deryk Engelland of the Vegas Golden Knights and Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers in the running for the trophy, presented “to the NHL player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team on and off the ice during the regular season and who plays a leading role in his community growing the game of hockey.”

The winner will be announced during the NHL awards ceremony June 20 in Las Vegas.

Wheeler scored 23 goals and added a career-high 68 assists, which tied for tops in the league, in leading the Jets to their best regular season in franchise history.

He was also nominated for his work away from the rink, which includes being an ambassador for the True North Youth Foundation and the many community projects that entails.

Hellebuyck was previously been named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as top netminder.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @mikemcintyrewpg