New Jersey Devils at Winnipeg Jets

It may not have the same marquee appeal of Tuesday’s tilt with the Washington Capitals but make no mistake: This is another huge game for the Winnipeg Jets.

That’s because the Dallas Stars just keeping winning and are now within four points after taking care of business during a back-to-back through Alberta.

With each team having 10 games left, it appears the race for first place in the Central Division and Western Conference may go right down to the wire.

“It’s an extremely tough division to be in, and that’s why it’s our number two goal at the start of the year,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said following the morning skate.

“One was to eliminate eight teams (and clinch a playoff spot, which they did following the 3-2 overtime victory over the Capitals). The next one was winning the Central. It’s an extremely tough division.”

A stumble or two could be costly down the stretch, especially with Dallas having a pillowy soft schedule in terms of quality of opposition.

“You never want to step off the gas,” said forward Kyle Connor, who is still beaming after becoming a father for the first time on Wednesday. Both his wife and newborn daughter, Willa, are doing well.

“Pretty life-changing experience,” is how Connor described it. “We couldn’t be more excited about it.”

Give the New Jersey Devils their due – they may be missing top forward Jack Hughes due to injury but they still have enough talent and strong team structure to compete against anyone, at least most nights.

In that regard, they likely haven’t forgotten the 6-1 drubbing they suffered at the hands of Winnipeg back on March 7 in Newark.

“Obviously, they’re going to use it,” Arniel said of some extra motivation based on recent hockey history.

“Whether they use it in video with some of the things we did against them to motivate. Whatever it might be.

“A lot of hockey has been played since then and I think you have to approach each game [with] getting out and playing your style, that’s what it’s going to take. They may think there’s something there they can do against us. We’ll throw that back at them as well.”

Connor Hellebuyck vs Jake Allen is the goaltending matchup.

The Jets will make one lineup change, with David Gustafsson replacing Rasmus Kupari on the fourth line. Arniel said Kupari has suffered a “setback” related to an injury he suffered earlier this month against the New York Islanders.

“We’ll just kind of monitor him day-to-day,” said Arniel.

Here’s some other information to get you set:

—Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

FROM THE PRESS BOX

Mike says: I was checking out the remaining schedule for the Dallas Stars today and….yeah. Oh boy. They have five home games and five road games left, exactly the same as the Jets. But that’s where the similarities come to a screeching halt.

Winnipeg has six games left against teams currently in a playoff spot (vs New Jersey, at Los Angeles, at Las Vegas, vs St. Louis, at Dallas, vs Edmonton) and four games left against teams on the outside looking in (vs Vancouver, at Utah, at Chicago, vs Anaheim).

Dallas has just two games left against teams currently in a playoff spot (at Minnesota, vs Winnipeg) and a whopping eight against also-rans (at Seattle, at Seattle again, vs Nashville, vs Pittsburgh, vs Vancouver, vs Utah, at Detroit, at Nashville).

As we head into action tonight, the Jets’ magic number to clinch top spot is 17. That’s the number of combined points needed to be gained by Winnipeg and/or lost by Dallas.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t see the Stars dropping very many along the way, so it’s incumbent on the Jets to keep piling on the points. Heck, they might ultimately need all 17, which would be an 8-1-1 finish.

One thing is clear: That April 10 game in Texas is looming large. No doubt the Jets were hoping it would ultimately mean nothing and that they would have sewed up a first-ever division title (in either 1.0 or 2.0 eras), but it might end up meaning everything.

“It seems the nights you’re not playing the teams behind us in Central are winning. So you gotta stay at pace,” Connor said this morning.

“It’s a very competitive division, that’s kind of how it’s been all year, though. So, they’ve been on our heels. Obviously teams are playing great right now. It’s a final stretch. You got teams pushing and really gearing up. And you got teams fighting for home ice as well. So there’s all types of dynamics out there.”

The difference between finishing first and finishing second could be significant, since the Colorado Avalanche (12-1-1 in their last 14) are almost certain to finish third and I suspect would be the favourites against whichever one of Winnipeg or Dallas ends up as runner-up in the Central.

Of course, the second wildcard team right now happens to be the St. Louis Blues (15-2-2 in their last 19), so it may ultimately end up being a bit of a pick your poison scenario.

Kyle Connor became a father for the first time on Wednesday. (Frank Franklin II / The Associated Press files)

Ken says: It’s another opportunity for Arniel and the Jets to get a feel for the newly constructed line combinations.

Nikolaj Ehlers brought his speed dynamic to the line with Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton before firing home his 24th goal of the season in overtime. It will be interesting to see if they can follow it up with another strong effort.

Although Cole Perfetti chipped in his 30th assist of the season on the goal from Appleton in the waning seconds of the second period, it was his drive to the net that was as important as the initial pass to Nino Niederreiter that got the play started. Because Perfetti took the attention of the Capitals defender, it provided an extra split second for Appleton to deliver a perfect shot.

The baby bump is a real thing, so it would not be a surprise to see Connor go on an offensive tear here during the final 10 games of the regular season.

Although he’s been held off the scoresheet in each of the past two games, Connor remains among the league leaders in goals (37) and is seventh in the NHL in points (86 in 72 games).

The Jets ability to close out games has been one of their biggest strengths, as they have a plus-24 goal differential in the third period this season. As a point of reference, the Devils are plus-5 in the third period.

Former Jets blue-liner Brenden Dillon caught up with a number of his former teammates on Thursday night and conceded that it can be challenging to face a former team.

“It’s a tough game to play — especially for myself, when you’ve got great relationships with a lot of guys on that team,” said Dillon. “I had an amazing three years here, I had a lot of fun. We had some great teams.

“Mentally, there’s a lot of stuff (to process). Thankfully, we’ve already played them once. They spanked us around pretty good, so now hopefully we can return the favour. It’s going to be a tough game, but overall a good test for our group.”

Devils’ winger Jesper Bratt is having a tremendous season. Not only is he leading the Devils in scoring, he’s further elevated his game after the loss of Jack Hughes, notching 14 points during the past eight games.

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

FORWARDS:

Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Ehlers-Lowry-Appleton
Niederreiter-Namestnikov-Perfetti
Gustafsson-Barron-Tanev

DEFENCE:

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Schen
Stanley-Miller

GOAL:

Hellebuyck
Comrie

Healthy scratches: D Fleury, D Heinola

Injured: D Pionk (lower body), RW Vilardi (upper body), C Kupari (undisclosed)

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

FORWARDS:

Palat-Hischier-Meier
Haula-Mercer-Bratt
Cotter-Dowling-Noesen
Tatar-Lazar-Bastian

DEFENCE:

L. Hughes-Pesce
Dillon-Nemec
Dumoulin-Kovacevic

GOAL:

Allen
Markstrpom

Healthy scratches: D Cholowski, RW Sprong, LW Foote, LW MacDermid

Injured: D Hamilton (lower body), D Siegenthaler (lower body), C J. Hughes (shoulder), C Glass (undisclosed)

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Jets defenceman Luke Schenn on making a quick trip back to Nashville to see his family for the second time during this lengthy homestand, which has included a pair of two-day breaks between games:

“I should be collecting Air Miles with the amount of time I’ve spent on an airplane lately. I might have some nice trips coming up in the summer.

“It’s been a lot of flying, it’s been a lot of hours on the plane, just trying to balance everything out between obviously being here and having a wife and three kids in Nashville. That’s where everyone’s set up right now, kids in school.

“Grateful for Arnie and Chevy and the Jets organization for — it was actually their idea to go back and check in — obviously I appreciate that.

“I don’t know if it makes it better or worse to go back and see them for under a day or 24 hours. It’s always hard leaving. Just trying to make everything work and balance everything out.”

WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON

Ken and Mike take their weekly lap around the NHL in their Dump & Chase column, while Mike will have game analysis of Jets vs Devils. Both pieces will be in Saturday’s paper and on our website. This is also the last call for the monthly Jets mailbag, which will go online Sunday. Please send your questions to Mike and Ken by simply hitting reply to this email.