Ehlers a game-time decision, Scheifele ruled out for Game 5

Wednesday's practice in Vegas brought good news and some bad news for the Winnipeg Jets.
Following a 35-minute practice at T-Mobile Arena, head coach Rick Bowness announced that Mark Scheifele - injured in Game 4 against the Vegas Golden Knights - has been ruled out for Thursday's Game 5.
As the group boarded the plane set for Vegas on Tuesday afternoon, Scheifele was in the "hopeful" category, but unfortunately Winnipeg's leading scorer won't be able to play in the must-win tilt.
"It's just range of motion," said Bowness. "If that improves every day, we'll rule him out for tomorrow, but we won't rule him out for Game 6."

The news was somewhat more positive when it came to Nikolaj Ehlers, who was a full participant on Wednesday.
During line rushes, he was with Vladislav Namestnikov and Nino Niederreiter, and the speedy forward also took part in power play drills with Niederreiter, Kyle Connor, Blake Wheeler, and Neal Pionk.
Ehlers, who had 12 goals and 38 points in 45 regular season games - wasn't about to divulge how he was feeling immediately after practice, or hint about his availability for Game 5, but his full involvement in practice is a good sign - especially since there was contact involved.
"This is what you work for in the off-season and what you work for, pre-season, and throughout the whole regular season," said Ehlers. "I don't think I was good enough to play the first few games. I know I said I was, but I hadn't really been on the ice, yet. And looking back now, that wouldn't have ended well. I feel a lot better now."
That contact was the difference between the practices Ehlers has participated since the hit from Minnesota's Ryan Hartman in the 81st game of the season.

Ehlers skated in practice, but every time contact was involved, he didn't respond well away from the ice.
"When we did push him a little bit, that's when he knew he couldn't play and he wasn't ready to play," said Bowness. "He was playing the best hockey he played all year before he went down. He's clearly one of our top six guys. It feels a lot better putting him into that position. He'll handle it well. I'm not worried about that."
Other nagging injuries kept Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kevin Stenlund off the ice on Wednesday. They aren't ruled out for Game 5, but with them off the ice, the Jets line rushes looked like this:
Connor-Gustafsson-Wheeler
Ehlers-Namestnikov-Niederreiter
Barron-Lowry-Appleton
Jonsson-Fjallby-Maenalanen-Kuhlman
Dillon-Pionk
Schmidt-DeMelo
Samberg-Stanley
While the series reads 3-1 in favour of Vegas, it's really one that has come down to a scoring chance here and there.
Natural Stat Trick has the five-on-five high-danger chances tied at 33, the shot attempt percentage slightly in Winnipeg's favour, and expected goals leaning toward Vegas.
Pierre-Luc Dubois hit a post in overtime in Game 3, and close to half of Vegas' offence has come off the rush.

In a series that tight, it all comes down to details.
"We spent over six minutes in their zone last game. We have to find a way to get some of those in the net," said Bowness. "We have to make sure our transition from offence to defence is a bit quicker and slow them down as much as we can."
A possible Ehlers return would go a long way toward helping the Jets offensively. Just ask Kyle Connor, who has two goals and three points so far.
"If you've seen him play, he can skate like the wind, controls the play, possession," said Connor. "Obviously, he's been kind of on edge (about) whether he's going to play or not from the start of the series. Everybody is looking forward to getting him back. He's a helluva player."

There are experiences a number of Jets can draw on in terms of facing elimination and succeeding. A big percentage of the Jets core beat Nashville in a do-or-die Game 7 back in 2018, and while they couldn't stave off elimination in a 3-1 deficit against Vegas that spring, they want to change the script this year.
"This team has matured over the years. We've kind of been through a couple playoff series here in the last four or five years, that we can draw from the experiences," said Connor. "All of your energy, all of your focus is on how can you be the best player that we can, how can we be the best team that we can in that next game."
That next game is just one day away.
"We'll find a way and it all starts with one game," said Bowness. "We're just putting all our focus on doing everything we can to win that game tomorrow."