GAMEDAY: Sharks at Jets

WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Jets play the second half of a two-game homestand on Wednesday when the San Jose Sharks make their only trip to Canada Life Centre this season. The Jets beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Saturday night in the first game of the homestand.

The Jets and Sharks have split their two meetings so far this season with Winnipeg winning their game in San Jose in early January. Even though the Sharks are residing in the bottom half of the standings, they have played the Jets tough this season. 

Winnipeg got off to an incredible start Saturday vs. Pittsburgh and could have easily led 3-0 or 4-0 if they would have cashed in on all their odd man rushes. They would like to create the same amount of offence tonight and make sure to finish, should those chances come again.

"If we get those Grade As early again tonight, we want to see the puck go in the net. They were great chances and we didn’t score," said Rick Bowness.

"When that happens, the other team kind of wakes up and it gives them a chance to get their game going. If you score early in those situations, you put them down and that’s what we want to do tonight. If we can get those same situations that we had early in that game, hopefully the puck will go in.”

The Sharks haven't played in two weeks thanks to the All-Star/player break and that is something the Jets will look to try to take advantage of Wednesday night.

“That is rare. For sure. I was talking with (Sharks forward) Tomas Hertl at the All-Star break and that’s the first thing he said. 'We don’t play for two weeks until we see you'. So, they’re aware of it. They’ve had a couple of days of practice. It’s rare," said Bowness.

“We focus on ourselves. We just have to make sure that we get out and get after them right away. We want to put a lot of pressure on them right away. We want to make them defend and we want to pressure them all over the ice.”

The Jets held an optional skate this morning but after seeing the lines in practice the past couple of days, the lines and defence pairings should remain the same as Saturday.

The Jets top line of Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers were dangerous against the Penguins but Winnipeg needs more out of their second line. Sean Monahan will be playing his fourth game as a Jet tonight and it is important that he, Gabe Vilardi and Cole Perfetti start producing soon.

"Yeah, it's getting better I don't think anyone expected it to be a Picasso right away. I think it takes a couple practices, takes a couple games to get used to one another. He's getting used to the system and as a team and you know life in Winnipeg there's a whole bunch of stuff that he's got to get used to," said Cole Perfetti.

And then we got to, me and Gabe gotta kind of adapt to his playstyle and he's gonna adapt to us. So, we knew it was gonna take a little bit of time but I think we're all pretty confident."

The Jets are part of a three-horse race for first place in the NHL’s Central Division with a record of 31-14-5. Winnipeg is three points behind the Dallas Stars and one behind the Colorado Avalanche, but have two games in-hand on Dallas and three games in-hand on Colorado. The Jets are second in the Central Division with a .670 points percentage, which is also tied for fifth in the NHL.