Vancouver Canucks at Winnipeg Jets

The Vancouver Canucks have become the free space on the NHL’s bingo card this season. But the Winnipeg Jets can’t afford to take anyone lightly – or their foot off the gas – as they continue a rather unlikely push for a playoff spot.

“Keep going. We have six (more in a row) at home here. We have to continue this,” head coach Scott Arniel said of his message to the Jets, who are coming off an impressive 4-1 victory over Tampa Bay on Thursday night.

“That was one of our stronger games of the season so we have got to follow up. The thing for us, it is not the opponent, it is the two points, and we can’t change how we played the other night because it is a different team coming in here. How well we played against Tampa is how well we have to play again tonight.”

The Jets enter play with points in five straight games (3-0-2) and 15 of their last 19 (10-4-5) and are now seven points behind the Seattle Kraken, who host the Ottawa Senators later tonight. Both teams have 21 games left.

Vancouver just snapped a seven-game winless streak on Friday night with a 6-3 win in Chicago but remain firmly planted in the NHL’s basement.

Winnipeg will welcome two new faces to the lineup as forward Isak Rosen and defenceman Jacob Bryson make their debuts after being obtained from the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night in exchange for blue-liners Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn.

Rosen will start on a line with Jonathan Toews and fellow Swede Gustav Nyquist.

“I’ve been trying to stay in the NHL for a while; got a lot of call-ups, but just been one game or two games and stuff like that. It’s a really good opportunity for me and I’m thankful for that opportunity and I’m going to do my best to make the best out of it,” Rosen said following the morning skate.

Bryson begins on the third-pair with Haydn Fleury.

“I talked to Coms (Jets backup Eric Comrie, who played with him in Buffalo). And he said they’re pushing right now. And that’s what the coach said, too,” said Bryson.

“So they’re not many points out. All it takes is, five, six, you get in a row there, and you’re right back into it. I’m just excited for this new opportunity and to meet all these guys. And so far, it’s been awesome.”

The Jets will make two other changes from the Tampa game, as defenceman Josh Morrissey returns from an upper-body injury he suffered during the Olympics and forward Brad Lambert is back with the big club after being summoned from the Manitoba Moose. He will take the spot of Tanner Pearson – who was also shipped to Buffalo – on the fourth line with Morgan Barron and Cole Koepke.

The Canucks have also undergone some recent changes, with Tyler Myers, Connor Garland and David Kampf traded this week after Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood were shipped out earlier this season.

Connor Hellebuyck makes his fifth straight start in net, while Vancouver is expected to counter with Kevin Lankinen.

Here’s some other information to get you set:

—Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

FROM THE PRESS BOX

MIKE SAYS: The fact Hellebuyck will be in net this evening tells you the Jets still believe they can make a late run here. I suspect the original plan was for Comrie to get the start, considering Hellebuyck’s recent workload includes five of six games at the Olympics and now four straight games prior to tonight.

Mark Scheifele has five points in his last two games and is now up to 75 on the year, which has him tied for seventh in NHL scoring. With 21 games remaining, he’s on track to shatter the career-high of 87 he set just a year ago and has a legitimate shot at getting to 100 if he can keep up the pace. The first-ever pick of the 2.0 era is also just one goal away from hitting 30 for the fifth time in his career.

You know his 29th the other night against Tampa had a bit of extra emotion behind it, considering it came against the coach (Jon Cooper) who left him off the Canadian Olympic team roster. Scheifele also showed off a good sense of humour when he negated a third-period goal from linemate Kyle Connor by going offside – then made it up to him by feeding him for an empty-netter to seal the victory.

“There was no chance I was shooting another puck the rest of the game. I was going to do everything in my power to get him that goal back because I was so mad at myself,” said Scheifele.

“I was very angry with myself there. That is a loss of focus. You should never go offside in that situation — you should never go offside in general, really. I’m going to hear about that one from Oatsie (his personal skills coach, Adam Oates) and from a lot of my buddies, trust me. It won’t be a fun conversation or text I’ll be getting from some of the guys. But yeah, I wasn’t going to shoot another puck until KC got one.”

The Jets have taken a lot of (deserved) heat this season for getting older and slower in a league that is getting younger and faster. With the likes of Schenn and Stanley traded and veterans like Nino Niederreiter, Vlad Namestnikov, Neal Pionk and Colin Miller shelved with injuries, the 18 skaters who will face the Canucks tonight represents a more youthful and mobile group, that’s for sure.

Fun fact: the last time the Jets were at (or above) NHL .500 – the same number of wins and regulation losses – was back on Dec. 15. They were 15-15-2 that day. A victory tonight would get them back to that mark at 26-26-10.

KEN SAYS: It’s only natural to keep a close eye on Rosen as he makes his Jets debut. From talking to a number of scouts and hockey personnel people during the past few days, many of whom are high on his skillset, it will be interesting to see how the Swedish winger fits.

Now, it’s important to remember the circumstances and sample size but it’s a great opportunity for Rosen to make a first impression.

Over the course of his four American Hockey League seasons, Rosen racked up 87 goals and 185 points in 231 games, which is even more impressive when you consider he came over to North America as a teenager to pursue his dream of playing in the NHL.

Rosen was on pace to produce a fourth consecutive 20-plus goal campaign in the minors, but he won’t return to the AHL this season unless the Jets miss the playoffs and he’s sent to the Moose for their expected postseason run.

The Winnipeg Jets picked up Buffalo Sabres forward Isak Rosen in the Logan Stanley-Luke Schenn trade on Thursday. (Jeffrey T. Barnes / The Associated Press files)

The Jets needed to add skill to the middle-six and Rosen should be able to help fill that void.

Even from watching the morning skate, you can see the explosive skating ability to go with a quick release and heavy shot.

Being inserted with a pair of veterans in Toews and Nyquist (his fellow countryman) should help Rosen feel comfortable.

This is also a great opportunity for Lambert. Don’t let the “fourth line” duty fool you: Morgan Barron and Cole Koepke are making things happen together and adding Lambert’s speed and skill could make that unit even more dangerous.

It’s been a relatively quiet offensive season for Lambert, but he scored his first NHL goal back in early November and it looks like he’s going to get an extended run here to show that he can be an NHL regular.

This is a massive opportunity for the 30th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft to show he can also provide some much-needed complementary offence to go along with the pace he brings to the table.

For the Canucks, keep an eye on Jake DeBrusk, who is second on the team in goals (with 14) and third in points (31) in 61 games.

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

FORWARDS:

Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Perfetti-Lowry-Vilardi
Nyquist-Toews-Rosen
Koepke-Barron-Lambert

DEFENCE:

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Salomonsson
Fleury-Bryson

GOAL:

Hellebuyck
Comrie

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Heinola

INJURED: D Pionk (lower body), D Miller (lower-body), LW Niederreiter (lower body), F Namestnikov (lower body)

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

FORWARDS:

Hoglander-Pettersson-DeBrusk
Ohgren-Rossi-Boeser
Kane-Raty-O’Connor
Sasson-Blueger-Karlsson

DEFENCE:

E N Pettersson-Hronek
M Pettersson-Wallinder
Buium-Mancini

GOAL:

Lankinen
Tolopilo

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: F Douglas

INJURED: G Demko (hip), D Joseph (upper body), D Forbort (undisclosed), C Chytil (face).

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Jets coach Scott Arniel on his message to Winnipeg’s two trade additions, who left a streaking Buffalo squad to join a Jets team trying to make a late playoff push:

“I talked to both guys yesterday, after we made the deals for both guys, and said it’s unfortunate you’re leaving a team that’s in the playoffs, one of the hottest teams in the league, but we’re still working on something. We’re not done yet. And we want you guys to be a part of that, we want you to help up push.

“I kind of told them the schedule and kind of where we’re at, being home here for the next six. There’s a lot that obviously has to happen, but we have to take care of our business. That’s what you’ll hear from our guys. And you’ll see that this isn’t a last place team and we’re already out of it with checkmarks beside our name.

“We’re still pushing. Hopefully that never happens and we get the other checkmark that says we’re in. So we’ll continue to push forward and that’s what I told those guys.”