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The boys are back in town. And one would expect the desperation and urgency to be ramped up a degree tonight when the Winnipeg Jets open a five-game homestand at Canada Life Centre.
Losers of three straight games, there’s no question this group has lost its way a bit lately.
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“It’s super important,” Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers said this morning of the task at hand. “(Poor play) was something that was creeping in and we couldn’t get a handle on it. Now, we’ve lost three in a row again and it’s not feeling really good. So, what we can fix tonight is to go out there and play for each other. Work hard, outwork Edmonton and play the right way. So, that’s what we’re planning on doing.”
Standing in their way is an Oilers team that should be a bit surly, too. They had a miserable weekend in Ontario, dropping back-to-back games to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.
Not only will they have to keep an eye on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but Zach Hyman is the newest member of the 50-goal club.
“Every time we play these guys they’re two of the best in the world and they have some of the best offensive players. You include Hyman getting 50 goals and their power play clicking, so it’s always a tough test and one that we need to be ready for as a group,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey.
Perhaps the Jets will get a motivational boost from having coach Rick Bowness back behind the bench. He’s missed the last four games as he battled a medical issue.
“Feeling much better, thank you. We had to deal with a couple of things. Just the body reminding me I’m 69 and not 39,” said Bowness.
Another positive development was the sight of Gabe Vilardi skating with the team this morning. He hasn’t played since Feb. 29 after dealing with both an upper-body injury and then an enlarged spleen. Both issues are now resolved, although there is no timetable for a return.
“He looks good,” said Bowness. “Now we need to take him every day and get our coaches pushing him and find out where he is, conditioning wise, and playing through any discomfort. We won’t know those things until we get him on the ice like today and push him, and keep pushing him, see where he is.”
Winnipeg will make one lineup change from the last game, with defenceman Logan Stanley coming in and Dylan Samberg coming out.
This is the third and final head-to-head meeting of the year, with each team already winning once on the road.
Connor Hellebuyck versus Stuart Skinner is the goaltending battle.
Here’s some other information to get you set:
FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: Facebook memories tell me today is the 10-year anniversary of coaching my son’s then 13A2 team to a city championship. It was the culmination of a terrific season with a great group of kids, many of whom still remain pals with my boy to this day. Great memories.
I bring this up as part of a candid admission that while I do have some coaching experience in my life — 10 years total in minor hockey, including a few with my daughter’s team as well — it wasn’t exactly the NHL. So take the below with a big grain of salt from a guy who, admittedly, hasn’t “been there, done that.”
I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why the Jets are going with the lines they are tonight. I absolutely loved the way they’d configured their forwards for the third period on Saturday in Long Island (when they outscored the Islanders 2-0 and outshot them 17-3) and for the first period-and-a-half of Sunday’s game in Washington (where they dominated play but couldn’t solve Charlie Lindgren in net).
Then, for some strange reason, the Jets coaching staff shuffled things up, only to have the Capitals ultimately score three goals in the final frame. It appears I wasn’t the only one confused — Mason Appleton, who began the day on a line with Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers, made note of the shake-up when he spoke to me post-game.
“I mean 0-0 game, when we kind of changed, tweak the lines a little bit there late in a second,” Appleton said without prompting, before quickly going in a different direction.
I would have liked to see a bit more runway with how they had it — Ehlers-Scheifele-Appleton, Connor-Monahan-Namestnikov, Niederreiter-Lowry-Toffolo, Perfetti-Barron-Iafallo. Especially since they looked so good in the 2 1/2 periods or so they were together.
I’m also struggling to understand why Samberg is once again out of the lineup. If the idea here is some load management and trying to keep everyone fresh by cycling Stanley and Colin Miller into the lineup, then why not deviate from taking the same two guys out (Samberg and Nate Schmidt)? I’m especially looking at Neal Pionk, who was battling a flu bug last week, had a truly dreadful game on Saturday, was back in the lineup on Sunday (no changes were made at all), and now remains in tonight.
Again, just one former minor-hockey-coach-turned-Free-Press-hockey-writer’s opinion, but it’s all rather puzzling to me.
Winnipeg Jets’ Adam Lowry and Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid collide back in November. Fans wait to see how the Jets will respond to losing three consecutive games. (John Woods / The Canadian Press files)
KEN SAYS: The Jets have reached the point where it’s time to stand up and be counted. There was ample recognition of the deficiencies in their collective game in discussions with players and Bowness and it will be interesting to see how this group responds to losing three consecutive games.
They’re saying all the right things and now it’s time to see if they can turn those words into action.
The defensive structure must be the primary area of focus when they go up against this high-octane attack. The commitment can’t waver and puck management is essential, since the Oilers are a team that is very good in transition.
Scheifele had three quiet games (one assist, seven shots on goal) to end the road trip after notching his eighth career hat trick against the New York Rangers and this is another opportunity to pace the attack. Kyle Connor managed eight shots on goal and nine shot attempts on Sunday and he’ll be looking to find the net for the first time since Tuesday as well.
McDavid is having another outstanding season and worked his way back into the scoring race. He’s produced 12 goals and 54 points in 31 career games against the Jets. It’s always a treat to watch McDavid and Draisaitl and I continue to be impressed by the play of Hyman, who hit 50 goals for the first time in his career and clearly isn’t afraid to go to the hard areas.
Former Jets forward Evander Kane is back in the Oilers lineup after a maintenance day on Sunday and he’s gone 16 games without finding the back of the net.
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