Jets shuffling top lines

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This article was published 31/01/2021 (1735 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s the closest thing the Winnipeg Jets will get to playoff hockey in February – assuming, of course, COVID-19 doesn’t throw a few more curveballs their way.

The Jets (5-3-0) are heading into unfamiliar territory this week, playing the Calgary Flames (3-3-1) in four consecutive games, beginning with the first of three at home Monday night.

The Jets shouldn’t require any added motivation, either, having been eliminated by the Flames in the qualifying round of last year’s playoffs. Calgary will also recall the loss it suffered at the hands of the Jets in the season-opener back on Jan. 14, which included surrendering a two-goal lead for a 4-3 overtime finish.

What’s more, this week, the Flames, following a three-game losing streak, had a players-only meeting to chat about their spotty play. Whatever was said seemed to work, as Calgary downed the Montreal Canadiens, 2-0, to hand the Canadiens their first loss in regulation in eight games this season.

“You realize you’re playing the same team four times, but you try to focus on that first one and then just kind of go from there. But at the same time, you know I’m sure by… who knows… I guess maybe not by the end of it, but halfway through it or so we’ll probably be sick of each other and they’ll be pretty heated affairs,” Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo said. “Anytime you’re playing Calgary you’re in for a tough game, so we’ve got four games coming up against them, they’re going to be really good ones.”

The Jets will have a new look. Paul Maurice juggled his top two lines for practice Sunday, swapping centremen Mark Scheifele and Paul Stastny. Scheifele will now play between Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrew Copp, while Stastny will play with wingers Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor.

The switch follows a disappointing 4-1 loss at home to the Vancouver Canucks. Afterwards, Maurice opined he wasn’t satisfied with the defensive game of Scheifele, Wheeler and Connor. The trio was scored on three times, including just 29 seconds into the game, and was a combined minus-nine on the night.

“Obviously our start wasn’t great last night. A few unlucky bounces and that’s the way it goes,” Scheifele said. “Can’t dwell on it too much. You just got to keep working and that’s what we did today. We had a good practice and we’ll be ready for another tough test against Calgary.”

By breaking up the top two lines, it’s clear that head coach Maurice is looking to get more out of his two biggest leaders, Scheifele and Wheeler. By splitting them up, however, he’s also breaking up what was the team’s most dominating line of Stastny, Copp and Ehlers.

The trio was held off the scoresheet Saturday, but had combined for 25 points over the previous five-game stretch.

“There’s a lot more pieces, always, that go into this decision. The other factors that are considered are you’re going into a four-game series with one team, so this gets to be a bit more unique to this year, in that matchups are going to matter. How the lines match up and style of play comes into that. The chemistry of a line, you certainly want to acknowledge it — and I don’t think the Stastny line has been lucky, they’ve been good. It’s also a place I know I can go back to if I need to and I don’t think it will take very long to rekindle that,” Maurice said.

“But we’re always looking for more. So, we were 4-1 going into last night’s game. I’ve liked it, I liked the first period last game, I didn’t like our second but there wasn’t enough there. We’ve had that in the past, all teams have. We’ve been such a strong third-period team that I wanted to give that a chance. Players had earned the right to make that happen. But I’ve been playing with these ideas. You’re doing it all the time; you’re always looking at what’s your next combination? How do you get a guy going? So, we just came to this.”

The Jets will continue to run Lowry, who is riding a six-game point streak, between Mason Appleton and Mathieu Perreault. The fourth line made up of Jansen Harkins, David Gustafsson and Trevor Lewis will also likely stay intact, though Kristian Vesalainen did work in with the group and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him crack the lineup this week.

The defence was also the same as it has been the last few games, with Josh Morrissey and Dylan DeMelo making up the top pairing, followed by Derek Forbort and Neal Pionk and Logan Stanley and Nathan Beaulieu. That leaves youngster Ville Heinola waiting for his shot to return to the lineup after playing in one game this season.

Maurice was less forthcoming when it came to divulging his plans with the defence. There’s a chance, the Jets coach said, things could change.

“That will be a process that takes more than a day to talk about. We’ll look at matchup first; we’ll look at play, health and all of those kinds of things. But we’ll look at that, yeah.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton