Jets begin busy stretch with game in Philly tonight

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/01/2019 (2413 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PHILADELPHIA — The band’s pretty much back together as the Winnipeg Jets begin a hectic stretch of hockey when they meet the Flyers here tonight. And right-winger Blake Wheeler hit the right notes early.

Wheeler and top centre Mark Scheifele, enjoying a day away from the rink Sunday after participating in the NHL all-star weekend, joined the rest of the Jets for the morning skate at Wells Fargo Center.

Winnipeg (31-15-2) meets the Philadelphia Flyers (19-23-6) at 6 p.m.; the first of three games this week against Eastern Conference opponents. Coming off a week-long break, the Jets will play eight times in 14 days.

Their remaining 34 games are squeezed into 69 nights. How will the captain handle the grind?

“I’m going to bust my ass,” said Wheeler, who has a team-high 61 points, including 52 assists. He’s four points behind NHL assists leader Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“We’ve put ourselves in a good position. I think we were playing our best hockey going into the break… so we’re just going to try and get better every single day. I know you guys love that cliché – but try to work toward playing our best hockey toward the end of the season and see where that puts us,” he added.

Laurent Brossoit gets his 12th start of the year between the pipes for the visitors, while Philly counters with rookie Carter Hart.

Defenceman Ben Chiarot will not play but will likely be available for Tuesday’s tilt in Boston against the Bruins. Defenceman Dustin Byfuglien (lower body) and forward Nikolaj Ehlers (upper body) remain out.

The Jets posted four consecutive wins, including impressive defeats of the Vegas Golden Knights and Nashville Predators, from Jan. 11 to Jan. 17 before falling 4-2 to the Dallas Stars on Jan. 19 in their last test before the bye week.

Winnipeg created some separation with the Predators but the Central Division rivals are now tied with 64 points apiece, although the Jets have four games in hand.

Those points still need to be earned, said third-line centre Adam Lowry.

“It’s a good opportunity, but you have to make sure you take advantage of those four games. They’re useless if you lose them. We like where we’re sitting, we know we have a good opportunity with the games in hand that we have, but at the same time we have to take care of business on our end and make sure we have some success in those games,” said Lowry.

“We know it’s gonna be a grind in the second half here, and with our schedule it’s gonna be important that we try to maximize our rest away from the rink and take care of ourselves.”

The Flyers have struggled but went into their own bye week and the all-star break on a roll, securing four wins in five outings.

Jets coach Paul Maurice said he expects both squads to be on the conservative side in the early stages tonight.

“Expectations for the game: What we’ll try to do is what Philly will do, (which) is try to play this game as simply as you possibly can till you get back into that rhythm of the game. It is unusual. I think this would be the longest break now for some of these guys that they would’ve seen in their professional careers in season. You just don’t see a break like this,” said Maurice.

The mood was light Sunday when the Jets re-connected to practise at a facility on the University of Pennsylvania campus, and there was a similar vibe this morning.

“They are rested. Whether their hands, feet and brain will all mesh together, we don’t know, but they have more energy than they did when we left, for sure. The morning skate wasn’t extreme boredom for them, so they’re excited about the game tonight,” said Maurice.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell