Jets face critical stretch

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This article was published 27/12/2024 (283 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets had a Merry Christmas, with the first-place club enjoying a three-day hockey hiatus that allowed for some quality time with family and friends away from the rink.

Now the focus turns to what needs to be done to ensure 2025 becomes a Happy New Year.

“I think there’s some more urgency,” Jets captain Adam Lowry said Friday of what he’s expecting to see when it comes to the post-holiday schedule that begins Saturday night with a visit from the Ottawa Senators.

“Obviously the playoff picture starts to shake out. Sometimes in October, April seems real far away and you might feel like you have time to make up some of those points. I think the hockey gets better, generally, as teams get to their structure. They’ve kind of ironed out the kinks or some of their weaknesses earlier in the year, so ice is harder to come by, it’s harder to generate some chances.”

The 25-10-1 Jets will play 10 of their next 11 games at the downtown rink, and 14 of 20 before they get an even longer break for the 4 Nations Face-Off starting Feb. 8.

“All the grinding we had to go through on the road, our road trips, some of the long ones, all the stuff we were talking about two months ago, now we get to sort of reap a little bit of the benefits,” said head coach Scott Arniel following an hour-long practice.

“But we have to take advantage of these games at home here. There is another push that happens, from now to the break. Now it’s jockeying for position. Because March and April they’ll be coming quick, and they’ll be coming heavy. So 20 games here, again sort of refocus, get ourselves taking advantage of this home ice and continue to build on what we’ve been doing.”

Winnipeg will be looking to pick up where it left off following back-to-back wins last Saturday (5-0 over Minnesota) and Monday (5-2 in Toronto) before players scattered for a short but sweet break.

“Guys got to take off from Toronto to kind of cover both the U.S. and Canada and get to see family and now we’re back. We had a good workday (Friday), which hopefully leads into (Saturday) and gets all of the Turkey and rust out of us and ready to go,” said Arniel.

Half the league (16 of 32 teams) returned to action Friday night in a chaotic day that involved the eight visitors having to fly early in the morning (the collective bargaining agreement doesn’t allow for activities to resume until Dec. 27), rather than the day before a game which is the standard.

Winnipeg had to do that last year and ultimately laid a bit of an egg, losing 2-1 in overtime to the Chicago Blackhawks. In that sense, the schedule maker did them a bit of a favour this year.

“This is one of the first ones where we can have a practice and then have a morning skate. I’d expect it to be a little sharper than last year’s game in Chicago,” said Lowry.

“You travel and go to the morning skate, and those days usually feel a little jammed, feeling your way through the first period. You know, both teams are playing well. I’d expect it to be a pretty well played game. I think having a practice day helps that.”

Indeed, the Senators also went into Christmas feeling rather jolly, having won six of their previous seven to climb into an Eastern Conference playoff spot.

“Watching them over the last couple weeks, they’re a great team. They’ve got a lot of depth,” said Lowry.

“We’re going to have to be ready. They skate well, they’ve got some real high-end skill and they’ve got some big bodies that like to go to the net. There might not be the rivalry that we have with some other teams, but it’s still going to be a hard-fought game.”

Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is expected to make his 29th start of the season, while Arniel has some decisions to make on what his blue-line looks like. Haydn Fleury suffered a lower-body injury against the Maple Leafs last Monday and is now considered week-to-week. Logan Stanley missed the last two games with an ailment but was a regular participant in practice Friday, so he could be an option to return.

The Jets also called up Dylan Coghlan from the Manitoba Moose as added insurance. It appears Colin Miller will move up to take Fleury’s spot beside Neal Pionk, meaning two of Stanley, Coghlan and Ville Heinola would form the third pair with the other being a healthy scratch.

Ottawa is expected to be without No. 1 goaltender Linus Ullmark (12-7-2, 2.38 GAA, .915 save percentage), who is dealing with a back injury. Backup Anton Forsberg (4-6-0, 2.95 GAA, .889 save percentage) will likely get the call.

“I think the structure and what we did well in both those games (before Christmas) is going to be important moving forward,” said Lowry.

After facing Ottawa, the Jets will host the Nashville Predators on Monday night, then travel to Denver immediately after to face the Colorado Avalanche on New Year’s Eve. An eight-game homestand will then follow starting next Thursday.

The Jets are a sizzling 12-3-1 at home this season and could really start to pull away from some divisional rivals if they can keep that up over this next stretch of schedule.

“Home ice is critical. You want to take advantage of these games where you can control the matchups. You want to perform well in front of the fans,” said Lowry.

“I think for the most part we’ve played pretty well. There’s been a couple games we haven’t loved at home but for the most part, we’ve been able to get to our game plan, get to our forecheck and our power play has been red hot at home. Having this stretch where you don’t have to travel as much, you get some more practice time, it’s going to be invaluable for us.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg