Winnipeg Jets at Pittsburgh Penguins

Greetings from Pittsburgh, where the Winnipeg Jets will be looking to quickly erase the stink of a 6-1 loss on Thursday night in Boston which opened this three-game road trip.

“We’ve got to flush it,” forward Cole Koepke said following Friday’s lightly-attended optional skate.

That’s going to be a tough task against a talented Pittsburgh Penguins team that has been piling up the points and sit in second place in the Metropolitan Division. They welcomed back Evgeni Malkin from a five-game suspension earlier this week, followed quickly by the return of captain Sidney Crosby from an injury he suffered during the Winter Olympics last month.

“They’re having a good season. We just need to make sure that we’re ready and come out with a game plan,” said Koepke.

The Jets presumably started with a plan in Boston, only to watch it swirl down the drain as the game progressed. Coach Scott Arniel lamented his group’s lack of execution, then only questioned their “compete level” after the final buzzer.

When pressed on why that may have been an issue, Arniel didn’t have an answer.

Evgeni Malkin returned to the Pittsburgh Penguins lineup after a five-game suspension earlier this week. (The Associated Press FIles / Gene J. Puskar)

“I just know that we haven’t done that. I haven’t seen that since the break and coming out of the break. To me, that’s something that us coaches, with our leadership group, we’ve just got to focus and make sure that doesn’t happen again,” he said.

The Jets begin the day five points out of the final Western Conference wildcard spot with 14 regular-season games remaining.

Take the projected lineup below with an extra grain of salt – no full practice Friday and no morning skate due to the early puck drop means no hints have been provided.

There’s a good chance defenceman Neal Pionk returns from a two-month injury absence. He might just replace Haydn Fleury, who struggled mightily against the Bruins and was benched for most of the third period. Ville Heinola is another possibility to come in.

Up front, the Jets have no extra options beyond the 12 skaters who faced the Bruins. However, Arniel brought out the line blender in the final frame, so it’s unclear how he might line them up.

We’d expect to see Connor Hellebuyck get the start in goal, despite the fact he’s struggled in two straight outings. The Jets also play Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, where Eric Comrie — who is riding a personal five-game winning streak — would likely get the call. Could Arniel consider shaking things up and reversing the order? Having one goalie play both games? Stay tuned.

Pittsburgh is expected to counter with veteran Stuart Skinner.

—Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

FROM THE PRESS BOX

MIKE SAYS: It’s incredible how much has changed since the last time these two teams faced each other. That was way back on Nov. 1 at Canada Life Centre, where the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners skated to a 5-2 victory on home ice to move to 9-3-0 on the new campaign.

The snowball started rolling downhill the very next game, kicking off a nightmarish stretch where the Jets won just six times in their next 30 outings to dig themselves a massive crater they have yet to fully escape from.

Assuming Pionk returns, I’d love to see Elias Salomonsson start this game in the same spot he finished Thursday’s – beside Josh Morrissey on the top pairing. Keep him there the rest of the season, in fact. That would allow for Pionk to reunite with his regular partner, Dylan Samberg. And veteran Dylan DeMelo (who also had a very rough outing against the Bruins) could move down to the third pair to play with one of Jacob Bryson/Fleury/Heinola.

Winnipeg Jets rookie defenceman Elias Salomonsson (left) continues to impress with his play. (Fred Greenslade / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Salomonsson continues to be one of the brightest spots in what has been a fairly dark season, and his perfect power play point shot that produced Winnipeg’s only goal against Boston shows he is becoming increasingly comfortable at both ends of the ice.

It was a bummer to be in Milan last month and, while covering the gold medal men’s game, not have Morrissey or Crobsy suiting up for Canada. Both had suffered injuries earlier in the tournament, and the national team certainly missed them big-time.

I’m happy that both players have now returned to their respective team lineups and have picked up where they left off as valuable contributors. Crosby may no longer be a “Kid”, but he’s showing no signs of slowing down. The sure-fire Hall-Of-Famer leads the Penguins in scoring with 61 points (28G, 33A) in 57 games and continues to show on, and off, the ice that he’s one of a kind.

Pittsburgh not only has some serious star power but plenty of depth as well — 13 players have at least 27 points this season. Only four members of the Jets – the top line of Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi and Morrissey – have eclipsed that mark.

KEN SAYS: The lopsided losses have mostly been kept to a minimum this season for the Jets, but this is the definition of a response game for a team clinging to their slim playoff hopes.

The spin of the line blender in the third period on Thursday brought a couple of things worth exploring further.

One of them was moving Isak Rosen alongside Morgan Barron and the other was trying Brad Lambert with Adam Lowry and Cole Perfetti. In the effort to secure more secondary scoring at five-on-five, finding a fit for both Rosen and Lambert (who had an assist on the power play against the Bruins) would be beneficial.

Jets centre Jonathan Toews has scored in consecutive games and is up to nine goals this season. With his next goal, Toews will hit double digits for a 16th consecutive campaign.

The Winnipeg Jets' Jonathan Toews has now scored in consecutive games.(NAM Y. HUH/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES)

The Winnipeg Jets’ Jonathan Toews has now scored in consecutive games.(NAM Y. HUH/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES)

For the Penguins, a veteran core was augmented by one of the best value free agent signings in winger Anthony Mantha. Mantha, who has been linked to the Jets on several occasions throughout his career, is tied for second on the Penguins in goals with 26 (two behind Crosby) and is tied with third in team scoring with 53 points in 68 games. He’s 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds and while he’s been plagued by inconsistency in the past, he’s bounced back incredibly well from a serious knee injury and should be a coveted free agent this summer.

Speaking of pending UFA’s, D-man Ryan Shea is someone who could be of interest to the Jets this summer. Shea has emerged as an NHL regular and has popped offensively, chipping in four goals and 28 points in 68 games. He’s not a physical force (with 37 hits), but he’s an efficient puck mover who stands 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, is sound defensively and has 81 blocked shots this season.

The Jets scouts would have seen him plenty in games against the Manitoba Moose when he was a member of the Texas Stars in the AHL. Shea also spent time in the Youngstown Phantoms USHL program that produced Kyle Connor.

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

FORWARDS

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

DEFENCE

Morrissey-Salomonsson
Samberg-Pionk
Bryson-DeMelo

GOAL

Hellebuyck
Comrie

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Heinola, D Fleury

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

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

FORWARDS

Rakell-Crosby-Rust
Chinakov-Novak-Malkin
Mantha-Kindel-Brazeau
Soderblom-Dewar-Acciari

DEFENCE

Wotherspoon-Karlsson
Girard-Letang
Shea-Clifton

GOAL

Skinner
Silovs

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: F Koivunen, D St. Ivany, D Solovyov

INJURED: D Graves (undisclosed), RW Hayes (upper-body), C Lizotte (upper-body), F Hallander (blood clot)

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Jets coach Scott Arniel on Connor Hellebuyck’s night against the Bruins (27 shots, six goals allowed):

“I think that that was just one of those ones where, when the team in front of him starts to struggle, it puts an awful lot of pressure on him. It’s just unfortunate we weren’t better in front of him.”