Jets eager to begin home-and-home set with Oilers

WINNIPEG - There was a noticeable pace to the Winnipeg Jets practice on Monday morning. Part of that is likely from the team having a day off on Sunday, but no doubt tomorrow's tilt with the Western Conference leading Edmonton Oilers has something to do with it.
In fact, that game begins a home-and-home series between the two clubs, who met in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring.
It's also the first time the Jets have faced a Canadian team this season, which - after playing 56 regular season games against only Canadian clubs last season - feels a bit odd.
"I feel like we've just played California teams," Mark Scheifele said with a grin. "It will be exciting. Obviously, they're rolling. Those big guys are playing really good right now. It will be good to test our stuff against them. It will be a fun game tomorrow."

The Jets have points in 11 of their last 12 games (going 8-1-3 in that span) while the Oilers (11-3-0) come into Winnipeg off a 5-4 win over St. Louis on Sunday.
"I don't think any team in this league wants to play run and gun against the Edmonton Oilers. I don't think you're going to win that battle, no matter how good you are," Scheifele said. "We obviously played them a lot last year and we know how great they've been playing as of late. We've got to play our game. You can't take any shifts off, you can't get away from our structure and when you do, those guys take advantage and make it a pretty tough game to stay in."

Naturally, anytime the Oilers are mentioned, the big question in the room is how to contain the top two point producers in the National Hockey League - Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid.
In last spring's playoff series, which the Jets won in four games with three overtime victories, Draisaitl and McDavid were kept off the scoresheet in the first two games.
This season, they're off to a torrid start. Draisaitl leads the league with 31 points, while McDavid has registered at least one point in every game so far this season and has 27 points.
"It will be a test for our back-end, and for what we allow our defence to do defending. Because so much of it with their team is what their forwards do," said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. "The places they'll get you, they're really dynamic off the rush, they lead the league in zone time and their power play is lights out good. So those are places you've got to be right on."
In preparation for Tuesday's game, the Jets hit the ice for 40 minutes at Canada Life Centre on Monday.
The line rushes remained the same as they were to finish the thrilling 3-2 overtime win over Los Angeles on Saturday:
Copp-Scheifele-Ehlers
Connor-Dubois-Wheeler
Harkins-Lowry-Svechnikov
Toninato-Nash-Vesalainen
Morrissey-Schmidt
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-DeMelo
Maurice commented after the win over Los Angeles about the need for the Jets to have options when it comes to line match-ups, especially against a team like the Oilers who have separated McDavid and Draisaitl for much of the season.
"I like Copp and Scheifele together, I think Andrew brings something to every line that he plays on, he makes plays but he's a good defensive player," Maurice said. "I like the physicality, the size of Dubois and Wheeler playing together. Blake will go to the net hard, and right-hand shot. There's just a bunch of things that could work."

Another key when matching up against Edmonton is special teams.
Edmonton's power play is the league's best, clicking at just under 42 percent. The Jets have been disciplined of late, as they've been shorthanded just eight times in the last six games.
That discipline will continue to be important over the course of the season, but especially so against the Oilers.
"I don't know if there is a bigger focus than not letting those guys eat, not letting those guys feel it," said Dillon. "You talk to any high-level offensive players - Scheif, Wheels, KC, these guys - you want to be feeling it on the power play, you want to get feeling good about your game. For this team especially, they create enough offence five-on-five. To take another guy off, it goes without saying, let's stay out of the box for sure."
The key to a good penalty kill is not taking penalties at all, as the Jets have done so far this season.
It all comes down to body position, according to Maurice.
"There's enough speed there that sometimes you're just going to be behind the game, and that's where the discipline comes in," he said. "To not get the stick up. But the original defensive position has to be right on these guys because they're so fast. It's positioning discipline first."
Of course, the penalty kill was one of the reasons the Jets were able to earn two points against the Kings on Saturday. Dylan DeMelo's shorthanded goal tied the game late in regulation. That went along with Logan Stanley's two assists in the game as well.

Overall, the Jets have had a lot of contributions from their defencemen. A total of 28.2 percent of the team's total points have come from the back end (eighth most in the NHL), as compared to just 17.5 percent last season (30th in the NHL).
"We have a lot of offence up front and a lot of guys that can make plays, and find you with nice passes," said Dillon. "think that's a luxury we have as defencemen being able to get up and being available, they're going to find you, you just have to keep your stick on the ice.
"I think for a guy like DeMelo and Stan, and these guys to be able to chip in and help out, it makes it that much sweeter for team victories and have some success like we've been having as a team."
ICE CHIPS
Paul Stastny didn't take part in practice on Monday as he continues to recover from taking a puck off the foot on Nov. 6.
"He's getting better. He just can't skate on it," said Maurice. "So we'll see how he is tomorrow and the next day. And if we don't think he's close we won't bring him. If we think he's close we'll bring him."