Jets begin hectic 16-day stretch tonight against sizzling-hot Penguins

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This article was published 04/01/2019 (2437 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PITTSBURGH — The Winnipeg Jets begin one of the busiest stretches of the season tonight by facing a red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins club that can jump into first place in their division with a win.

Pittsburgh has won seven straight games to sit just a single point behind the Washington Capitals. They’ll pose a major test for the Central Division-leading Jets, who are playing for the first time since Monday’s 4-3 victory in Edmonton.

“From our point there’s always the challenge with Pittsburgh and the way their grouping is. They’ve got just a lethal player on three of their lines that is a game-breaker,” coach Paul Maurice said following the morning skate at PPG Paints Arena.

“You’re going to need everybody right. If any one of your lines is off, that’s going to leave (Phil) Kessel, (Evgeni) Malkin or (Sidney) Crosby loose. And they don’t need a whole lot of time to play. There’s not a lot of teams like this. They’re rare to have the kind of firepower this team has. Those standard clichés, ‘You need everybody going.’ You do. Because that shift you don’t have everybody going, it’s in the back of your net.”

Connor Hellebuyck gets the start for Winnipeg, while the rest of the lineup remains the same from the one that beat the Oilers on New Year’s Eve. Nic Petan, Mason Appleton and Sami Niku will be the healthy scratches, while Dustin Byfuglien remains out of the lineup for at least the next month with an injury.

The Jets have been dynamic away from home since the start of December, going 8-1-0 in their past nine road games heading into action tonight.

“I think it started for us kind of through adversity. We came out east here the early part of December and had a bunch of defencemen missing and became a little tighter with our defensive game. And mid-December we got on a stretch where we were just kind of scoring at will. But comfortable on the road,” said Maurice.

“The road is a different place now. It’s not the way it used to be. You don’t get the matchup you want. But like Pittsburgh, we’re not a one-line team, and those guys are going to get their opportunities.”

The Jets will play five times over the next eight days, and nine in their next 16 heading into their bye week, followed by the all-star break.

“I don’t think we ever look at a stretch and say we have to handle this differently. You run the bench for the night you’re playing. We play our top-end guys lots of minutes, so we won’t change what we do,” said Maurice.

After Pittsburgh, the Jets return home for a pair starting Sunday afternoon against Dallas, followed by Colorado Tuesday night. They play in Minnesota Thursday night, then return home for three against Detroit, Anaheim and Vegas. Then it’s off to Nashville and Dallas for a pair before the lengthy break.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg