Lowry enjoys a little home cooking

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This article was published 18/12/2018 (2454 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LOS ANGELES — It’s always a game he circles on the calendar, a chance to enjoy a visit with his parents and a little home cooking while on the road.

But Adam Lowry said that when the puck drops at Staples Center, he blocks out the fact his Winnipeg Jets are taking on his second-favourite team, the Los Angeles Kings.

“When it comes to game time, it’s like any other game. We’re trying to win and trying to continue this roll,” Lowry said Tuesday morning prior to the latest head-to-head meeting between the clubs.

Lowry’s interest in the Kings is rooted in family as his father, Dave, is an assistant coach in Los Angeles. Lowry said he’s a bit surprised at how difficult things have been for the Kings, who sit last in the NHL standings and replaced head coach John Stevens with Willie Desjardins earlier in the season.

“I don’t think anyone saw that they were going to be struggling this much. They’ve missed a lot of guys at various times. Any time your goalie is out for an extended period of time and you lose your backup, too, that’s going to hurt. They have a long list of injuries and that’s kind of played a factor in some of their struggles this year,” said the Jets centre.

“But they still have a lot of good players and good pieces over there. Just like approaching the games against Chicago, you have to be ready to play an NHL game, they’re not just going to gift you the two points. They have a few different weapons that can hurt you.”

Jets head coach Paul Maurice said the Kings are playing with “anger” these days, which can make them dangerous.

“We don’t spend a whole lot of time worrying about how they played in their last two games. It’s what’s this team is capable of. They’re really strong on the walls, and they’re driving and they’re angry when they play now, they’re frustrated. It’s no different than the game (last Friday) in Chicago for us. You’ve got Stanley Cup champions who aren’t happy with where they’re at. They’re going to push real hard and give you all you can handle,” he said.

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Professional athletes are creatures of habit, so it will be interesting to see how a change in routine impacts the Winnipeg Jets.

The team opted not to skate Monday prior to flying to Los Angeles to start a three-game road trip, then had an off-ice workout Tuesday morning instead of the traditional morning skate.

It’s unusual to go 48 hours between stepping on the ice, as the Jets did when the puck dropped Tuesday night.

“Rest is the premium that we’re looking for right now. Recovery is real important but we also want to be able to handle this, to do an off-ice workout in the morning and get our legs right in the warm-up and then be out and be good and on time. And if not, fight hard to get to good, quick. So it’s an unusual situation but something we want to learn how to manage,” said Maurice.

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Forward Andrew Copp is close to taking the next step of his recovery and getting in some physical contact at practice.

The Jets winger was sidelined for three games by a concussion, returned earlier this month for two games in New York but then had symptoms return. He’s missed the last eight games.

“Feeling good, skating. We’re just being real cautious with this now before he gets into bumping. He’ll start light contact (soon),” said Maurice .

Joe Morrow has been the other recent injured player for the Jets but is now considered fully healthy. However, he remains sidelined with the Jets opting to go with the six defencemen they had slotted in when the season began.

“Really important, but the bigger story is getting some big minutes pushed on guys when we had the three or four defencemen out of our lineup. Their game elevated and when the players got healthy, their game stayed. It didn’t fall off,” said Maurice.

“So, now we’ve got a better performing group of six because (Josh) Morrissey, (Jacob) Trouba and (Tyler) Myers got pushed into some really big numbers and now, when (Dustin Byfuglien) came back and our other injured defencemen came back, those guys got into a better rhythm and got their confidence. They’re playing well. It improved our individual defencemen’s play during those injuries and now that they’re back, they’re playing pretty strong.”

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A Los Angeles-based Finnish television crew, at the rink Tuesday to do a feature on Jets forward Patrik Laine, asked Maurice whether a contract would get done soon with the pending restricted free agent.

“That is so far above my pay grade,” Maurice said with a smile, before quickly adding “I don’t have to pay it and I don’t have to get the deal done, so I sleep all right on that.”

Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff’s slumber might not be so peaceful, with Laine, Kyle Connor and Jacob Trouba all set to be RFAs and needing new contracts next summer.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg