WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Jets continue a five-game homestand on Thursday night when they host the Vegas Golden Knights. The Jets started the homestand with 4-3 overtime loss to Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night, which extended Winnipeg’s winless streak to four games.
After going 5-0-1 in the first six games between the Jets and Golden Knights at Canada Life Centre, the Jets have dropped consecutive
games to Vegas. The Golden Knights are coming off a 5-4 overtime loss in Nashville, a game that they led 4-1 in the third period.
"I mean, they’re still good, they're still big, they're still heavy. Still very well coached, structured, good shot blocking team," said Neal Pionk.
"That's always that always stands out to me when we play these guys. So there'll be a point of emphasis managing (the) puck but also getting pucks through from the blue line."
With the Golden Knights being a big and heavy team, Rick Bowness has made some changes to his lineup, David Gustafsson comes in for Cole Perfetti and Dylan Samberg replaces Nate Schmidt on the blueline. Connor Hellebuyck will start in goal for the third straight game.
PROJECTED LINEUP
Connor - Scheifele - Iafallo
Ehlers - Monahan - Toffoli
Niederreiter - Lowry - Appleton
Barron - Gustafsson - Namestnikov
Morrissey - DeMelo
Dillon - Pionk
Stanley - Samberg
Hellebuyck
One thing is for certain, after the 6-3 loss on Long Island on Saturday afternoon the Jets have had some good moments and some tough moments. Their first and second periods at Washington and their first and third periods against the OIlers on Tuesday were much better and looked a lot closer to Winnipeg Jet hockey.
"Yeah, certainly. Create a lot of scoring chances, didn’t give them a whole lot. Especially in Washington, we didn't give them a whole lot of scoring chances. I know Edmonton got a bunch, but I think you can play a perfect game against Edmonton and they're still gonna get a fair amount of scoring chances," said Pionk.
"With that being said we did beat ourselves and in the second period there so again, we get redemption here and a couple days later and we gotta go play our game."
The Jets had a bad line change against the Oilers that turned into a goal for Edmonton is an example of the type of mental errors that have been hurting the team during this four game winless streak.
“I think just sometimes the sheer volume, sometimes it’s mental fatigue where you make decisions you wouldn’t necessarily be making if you were as sharp as you can be. The decision at this time of year are magnified," said Adam Lowry.
We’re ramping up, gearing up for the playoffs and playing a lot of great teams. You give teams free offence or free opportunities to counter-attack you, they’re looking to take advantage. I just think that’s kind of where it’s gone."
