Wheeler, we’re all ears! What did you think about Fleury’s tickle?

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This article was published 18/05/2018 (2730 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LAS VEGAS — It was illness, not injury, that kept Nikolaj Ehlers out of the lineup for Game 3. And the flashy Winnipeg Jets forward looks to return to the lineup tonight for a pivotal Game 4 against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Winnipeg trails the best-of-seven series 2-1 and will be looking to avoid a third straight loss against the expansion club in the Western Conference final.

The team confirmed Friday morning that Ehlers is available for tonight’s game.

“The good news is it’s not a best-of-three series, it’s a best-of-seven series. We came into this series approaching it that way. We’re going to fight the distance. It’s a good opportunity for us to get a big road win tonight, hopefully, and go back into our building,” captain Blake Wheeler said following an optional morning skate.

Joel Armia was the only player from Game 3 who hit the ice Friday morning, joining the rest of the healthy scratches.

There was a light-hearted moment Friday as Wheeler was asked about a strange play from Game 3, where Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury appeared to tickle him behind the ear during a scrum in front of the net.

“Well, I didn’t clean my ears that day, so joke’s on him,” said Wheeler. “I had no idea it happened. At breakfast yesterday somebody showed it to me. Like I said, this league’s getting weird. It doesn’t bother me, I thought it was funny. Like I said, things just keep getting weird. It is what it is.”

Winnipeg is in the unusual situation of trailing a playoff series for the first time this spring after losing 3-1 in Game 2 and 4-2 in Game 3. Winnipeg took the series opener by a 4-2 score.

“It’s a must-win for us, we have to see it that way,” forward Mathieu Perreault said Friday morning at T-Mobile Arena. “We’ve got to come out today and bring that energy we had in the third in the last game, right into this first period. If we play that way, we saw last game that we had tons of chances, and we feel we’ll give ourselves a better chance at winning.”

Winnipeg got off to a terrible start in Game 3, giving up the first goal just 35 seconds in and mustering just three shots in the first period. But they fired 32 pucks at Fleury in the final 40 minutes and came close to tying the game on several occasions.

“Feel the urgency. If you feel that, it usually brings the best out of everybody. Once our backs are against the wall a little bit, I feel like we get that urgency a little bit more at the start of games. We should bring that tonight,” said Perreault.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg