FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: As strange as it sounds, Saturday’s result might ultimately be very good for the Jets. No, I didn’t get too much heat and sun while spending the past week on a Vegas vacation with my wife. But I really do think an early season reality check against the reigning champs isn’t the worst thing in the world for a hockey club that had been flying high.
The Jets got a firsthand lesson on what an elite team firing on all cylinders looks like. What they ultimately do with that remains to be seen, but if you subscribe to the theory that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, then perhaps Winnipeg comes out of this for the better.
Paul Maurice told me that was perhaps the best game from his group, so Winnipeg certainly saw Florida’s best. Now, can the Jets return the favour?
Maurice was also asked about the “overrated” chants directed towards his former team and had a hearty chuckle while providing some stellar soundbites.
“I kind of like that, the awareness of (the Panthers’ fans). There was some respect in that, right? In that they follow the game now and they follow the team and they know that Winnipeg is off to a historical start,” he said.
Maurice added he expects the Winnipeg faithful to let his group hear it tonight should the situation be reversed.
“I went to a Bombers game a few years ago and I sat beside four guys and it was a comedy show the whole night,” he said. The funniest fans in the league are here. They are awesome, so it will be pretty good. I’ll make sure that I have my card in front of my face (when the chants rain down).”
It should be a fun night at the rink.
KEN SAYS: The Jets were thoroughly outclassed by the Panthers and that didn’t sit well with them, so things should be a lot tighter in this one. The Jets need to be quicker all over the ice, which is what Arniel pointed out on Tuesday morning when discussing areas that require improvement.
The Panthers helped make the Jets look slow with a ferocious forecheck and good puck management, but they had been smoked in consecutive games by the New Jersey Devils, so they were particularly wired to face the Jets. Now it’s time to see how the Jets respond to losing consecutive games for the first time this season.
You can be sure the intensity won’t be lacking.
Look for the Adam Lowry line to try to set the tone. Lowry scored the lone goal over Winnipeg’s last two games, but both Nino Niederreiter and Mason Appleton have gone five games without recording a point.
For the Panthers, captain Aleksander Barkov did an excellent job of showing why he’s one of the best — if not the best — two-way players in the NHL on Saturday. Not only did he help neutralize the Mark Scheifele line, he also delivered a shorthanded goal and added two assists.The humble superstar is clearly worth the price of admission and while he’s happy to avoid the spotlight, the reigning Selke Trophy winner seems to be getting better as he gains experience. Since missing eight games due to injury, Barkov has recorded three goals and 16 points. So you need to be aware of him when he’s on the ice, while also recognizing just how dependable he is with his defensive game.
Sam Reinhart continues to lead the way in scoring and he’s riding a 10-game point streak into this matchup. Only Alex Ovechkin has scored more goals (15) than Reinhart (13) has this season and the Capitals captain has officially been diagnosed as being week-to-week after suffering a lower-body injury on Monday.
It was an uncharacteristically quiet game for Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk on Saturday as he managed just one shot on goal, three shot attempts, two hits and a minor penalty for tripping against the Jets while only playing just under 13 minutes. One would imagine Tkachuk will be more involved in this game.
Tkachuk has nine goals and 22 points in 26 career games against the Jets.
PROJECTED LINES
WINNIPEG JETS
- Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers
- Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Coghlan, F Gustafsson
INJURED: D Stanley (mid-body)
- Rodrigues-Barkov-Reinhart
- Verhaeghe-Bennett-Tkachuk
- Luostarinen-Lundell-J. Boqvist
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D A. Boqvist, F Samoskevich
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
Jets coach Scott Arniel on playing Florida for a second straight game:
“They’re the Stanley Cup champions and we didn’t really like our game, the way we got beat. But at the end of the day, we get another shot at them right away. It’s not like you’ve got to wait a month or two months to get after them again. For us, it’s getting back to our game, that’s more of what we just talked about and focused on yesterday. To get ready for tonight. Let’s play our game. We got away from what we have to do and how we play, and we’ll just get back to that and then, hopefully the results are better for us.”
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON
Who can forget Paul Maurice giving his former employer a shout-out in the immediate aftermath of his first Stanley Cup triumph last June, saying his remaining wish is for Winnipeg to one day capture a championship. Mike spoke with Maurice this morning, along with several Jets players and coaches, about the classy gesture and will have a story coming. Ken is handling Jets versus Panthers game duties from his press box perch at the downtown rink. You can find both pieces online at winnipegfreepress.com and in Wednesday’s print edition.
MAILBAG OPEN: Mike and Kenny will be tackling your Jets questions in the latest edition of our monthly mailbag, which will be posted online this Sunday. If you have a query, simply hit reply to this email and fire it our way.
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