|
Scott Arniel didn’t want his team to get ahead of itself.
That’s why the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets wasn’t willing to look into the crystal ball and wax poetic about the opportunities on the horizon when his team was about to open a season-long eight-game homestand earlier this month.
As the Jets get set to close it out tonight against the Calgary Flames, it’s already been a really good stretch, with the potential to be a great one if they can follow it up with a third consecutive victory.
“We haven’t really seen anything like this in the last few years, where we’re here this long,” Arniel said this morning. “You have to take advantage of it. So far — knock on wood — we’ve done that. We’ve got one to go before we take off here for a couple of Central Division battles.
“I’ve just liked the way that our details have been good.”
The attention to detail has allowed the Jets to go 4-1-2 so far, which is even more impressive when you consider the stretch opened with a loss to the Detroit Red Wings and an overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
Since that time, the Jets have collected nine of a possible 10 points — an overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings the lone blemish, though hanging around in that game was a prime example of the growth Winnipeg has shown this season.
“Honestly, I didn’t even realize where we were sitting. I know this is the last game of it,” said Jets forward Morgan Barron. “As a whole, I’ve liked the way that we’ve played. If you look at that LA game, obviously we didn’t get two points out of it but we stuck with our game, had a bit more patience, things like that.
“It’s been good. If we can finish it off on the right note here and bring it on the road. We’ve gotten progressively better as we’ve been home for a little while.”
Advertisement
By collecting 10 points on the homestand, the Jets have opened up a bit of breathing room in the Central Division standings, building a seven-point cushion on the Minnesota Wild (who hold a game in hand) and an eight-point bulge on the Dallas Stars (who hold two games in hand).
“For the most part we did a very good job. A couple ups and downs,” said Jets forward Nino Niederreiter. “We had some great games. We had some not so good games. But overall, I feel like we can be very happy with what we did (so far).”
As the Jets continue to battle for top spot in the NHL standings, the Flames have done an excellent job of keeping themselves in the thick of the battle for the second wild card in the Western Conference — currently one point up on the Vancouver Canucks for the eighth seed.
They’re at the end of a four-game road trip and coming off consecutive losses to the St. Louis Blues, so they’ll be hungry to get back on the winning track.
“It’s going to be a heavy game. It’s not going to be one of those ones where you’re going to get a lot of space to work. And they’re going to run into you every chance they get,” said Arniel.
“They’re right in the hunt of things. And they’re another team that we’re seeing on their way back home and probably looking to finish off their trip on a good note. But we have to make sure that our start to the game was better than it was the other night against Seattle. Hopefully we can get up and put some pressure on them.
Eric Comrie gets the call in goal for the Jets, while the Flames counter with Dustin Wolf.
It’s the 11th start of the season for Comrie and his second against the Flames.
Comrie made 26 saves in a 5-3 victory over the Flames in Calgary back on Oct. 26.
Although he’s only one start in seven since, that’s had more to do with a lack of offensive support than a drop off in his play.
“It just kind of falls into how we’ve been rotating here,” said Arniel, asked why this game made sense to get Comrie back between the pipes. “He played well in Calgary, had a good game there, so follow it up.”
Neither head coach wanted to go into detail about potential lineup changes, but based on the players that stayed on the ice late, it looks like Colin Miller will draw in on the third pairing for the Jets with Logan Stanley.
For the Flames, it looks like Andrei Kuzmenko will replace forward Walker Duehr and Dmitri Miromanov could be in for Joel Hanley.
Here are a few other things to help get you ready for this evening’s tilt:
|
