Edmonton Oilers at Winnipeg Jets

Scott Arniel was quick to say he wasn’t trying to downplay the achievement.

But when the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets was asked what it was like to have sewn up the Central Division and Western Conference banners for the regular season the day after defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 in a shootout, Arniel reiterated his belief that there were more pressing matters on the horizon and more work to be done.

“Banners are pretty and they look nice, but that’s not what we’re after. It’s all about that big silver Cup at the end,” said Arniel. “It’s all been part of what we’ve been trying to do all year long. Checked the box with eliminating teams in the West, then winning the Central, those are big things. It took us 80 games to do it, that was the part I wasn’t real happy about. With as great a year as we’ve had, it shows you how good the teams in the Central have been as well.

“Those are great accomplishments. We’ve never taken anything for granted. First time for us doing it, it’s special. It’s special for the team and for these guys to be a part of it. The city, the province, be real proud of the Winnipeg Jets. We’ve got two (games) to go to finish it and then Game 83 starts and then everybody starts at square 1 and you’ve got to start all over again.”

Winnipeg Jets' Vladislav Namestnikov (7) and Edmonton Oilers' Ryan McLeod (71) battle for the puck during a game last season. The teams face off tonight; puck drop is 6 p.m. (Jason Franson / The Canadian Press files)

Winnipeg Jets’ Vladislav Namestnikov (7) and Edmonton Oilers’ Ryan McLeod (71) battle for the puck during a game last season. The teams face off tonight; puck drop is 6 p.m. (Jason Franson / The Canadian Press files)

The Jets remain in the driver’s seat to win the first Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history as well, holding a five-point edge on the Washington Capitals (who have three games remaining).

With that in mind, the Jets will be balancing the rest versus rust debate with just one more game remaining on Wednesday against the Anaheim Ducks before the Stanley Cup playoffs arrive on the weekend.

“There’s a lot of guys who want to play Wednesday,” said Arniel. “With where we’re at, they probably don’t want a week off. We’ll talk to the players.

“I’ve watched over the years here. Some teams rest players and some players don’t want that rest, they want to keep running at a high pace and keep going and don’t want those days off.”

The Jets also have six players who remain in position to suit up in all 82 games and that list includes Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, Cole Perfetti, Nino Niederreiter, Alex Iafallo and Dylan DeMelo.

Arniel wasn’t ready to shed any light on the lineup and since only three players (Luke Schenn, Neal Pionk and Ville Heinola) joined goalie Eric Comrie on the ice, this is a reminder that our line combinations and defence pairings are projections and we won’t have a clearer picture until the pre-game warm-up.

There wasn’t a definitive update on the severity of the injury to Nikolaj Ehlers either, after the speedy Jets winger left Saturday’s game in the first period after an awkward collision with a linesman.

“I’m not sharing any of it. Everybody is day-to-day,” said Arniel. “Which you’ll pretty much hear from me for the rest of the year. We’re still finalizing some stuff here. Show up tonight and see what you see.”

Our best guess is that defencemen Josh Morrissey, Luke Schenn and Neal Pionk will be given the night off, along with Adam Lowry up front.

If Ehlers is not available (as expected), that would allow David Gustafsson and Rasmus Kupari to draw back into the lineup up front.

If anyone else who played on Saturday isn’t an option, the Jets could call up someone from the Manitoba Moose to fill out the playing roster.

The Oilers will also be without a number of key players who are out because of injury or illness, including Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Mattias Ekholm and Jake Walman, among others.

The goalie matchup features Comrie (who is making his career-high 20th start of the season) for the Jets and Stuart Skinner for the Oilers.

—Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

FROM THE PRESS BOX

MIKE SAYS: The Stanley Cup is the ultimate goal, of course, but I’ve always felt like the team that stands alone on top of the NHL standings following the marathon that is the 82-game regular season has won a championship of sorts, too.

Capturing a first-ever Presidents’ Trophy would be one of the most notable achievements in Winnipeg’s sporting history.

In that sense, there’s a lot at stake in tonight’s game even though I expect the Jets to ice a watered-down lineup. Rest and health are the top priorities now, and this provides a great chance for some of the depth players who’ve been on the outside looking in to get a game under their belts and sharpen up in case they’re needed at some point.

And history says they will be should the Jets go as deep as they hope to.

So while this game may have a bit of a late-September preseason feel to it, there’s still plenty to play for both individually and collectively.

If everything goes well, this could be Comrie’s last game until next fall. A tip of the hat for the job he’s done as he makes a career-high 20th start.

He hasn’t always been put in the best spots — such is the life of a backup — but he’s been everything the Jets could hope for and then some. Comrie is a perfect complement to Connor Hellebuyck and has provided rock-solid play on the ice and no shortage of character and support to his teammates. With a 9-9-1 record, you know he’d love a win tonight to hit double-digits and move above .500.

It should be a fantastic atmosphere at the rink tonight, with what I expect will be a seventh straight sellout and a two-and-a-half hour party/celebration for everything the Jets have accomplished so far this season.

KEN SAYS: It’s hard to really dig into certain themes with the lineup being up in the air, but Cole Perfetti warrants further discussion.

Perfetti’s second half has been outstanding and he continues to earn the trust of the coaching staff with his spirited, two-way play. Perfetti was out for multiple shifts in overtime, then sealed the game with his first NHL shootout attempt — which was a dirty dangle that finished off with a shot through the five-hole after his deke opened up the pads of Spencer Knight.

Cole Perfetti (left) is close to reaching 50 points. (Kyusung Gong / The Associated Press files)

This was a highlight-reel special to put an exclamation point on the Jets sealing the Central Division and Western Conference titles. By chipping in an assist, Perfetti is on the precipice of reaching 50 points (with 18 goals and 49 points). The way that Perfetti has responded to being a frequent healthy scratch down the stretch and into the playoffs last season has been admirable. His transformation from complementary player to primary point producer is the latest step in his development.

Establishing career highs has been a frequent storyline here this season and Jets sniper Kyle Connor delivered his 41st goal and 96th point to go along with a shootout marker on Saturday. That leaves him two games to try to catch Marian Hossa for the most points in franchise history (100 in 2006-07). Connor has said frequently he’s not a numbers guy, but you can be sure he wouldn’t mind if a hot start going into the playoffs included four more points to hit the century mark.

The Oilers still have an outside chance to reach second in the Pacific Division, but most signs point to the Los Angeles Kings holding home-ice advantage in that playoff series. And while the Oilers are missing five of their top-eight scorers, anytime a lineup has Connor McDavid in the lineup, you better be paying attention to him.

McDavid is three points shy of reaching 100 points himself for a fifth consecutive season and the eighth time of his career. McDavid has 12 goals and 57 points in 34 career games against the Jets, so trying to contain him remains a high priority.

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

FORWARDS:

Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Niederreiter-Namestnikov-Perfetti
Tanev-Barron-Appleton
Gustafsson-Kupari-Anderson-Dolan

DEFENCE:

Heinola-Samberg
Stanley-DeMelo
Fleury-Miller

GOAL:

Comrie
Driedger

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: G Hellebuyck, D Morrissey, D Schenn, D Pionk, C Lowry

INJURED: RW Vilardi (upper body), LW Ehlers (lower body)

EDMONTON OILERS

FORWARDS:

Skinner-McDavid-Brown
Podkolzin-Janmark-Arvidsson
Ryan-Henrique-Perry
Jones-Philp-Kapanen

DEFENCE:

Nurse-Bouchard
Kulak-Stecher
Dineen-Emberson

GOAL:

Skinner
Pickard

INJURED: D Ekholm (undisclosed), D Klingberg (lower body), D Walman (undisclosed), D Regula (knee), C Draisaitl (undisclosed), LW Hyman (undisclosed), LW Kane (knee), C Nugent-Hopkins (illness), F Frederic (ankle)

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Jets head coach Scott Arniel on the play of Eric Comrie this season:

“(He’s) been big for us. We didn’t give him the run support for a stretch there in the middle of the season, but he still gave us great goaltending and that’s what you ask for from your backup. It’s been a good year for him.”

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Eric Comrie makes a career-high 20th start. (John Locher / Associated Press files)

WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON

Ken and Mike will provide double coverage in the second-to-last regular season game. Both stories will be available in Monday’s print edition and at winnipegfreepress.com.