Jets excited for series against Vegas, and return of the whiteout

WINNIPEG -Game One between the Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights is still a few days away, but there is just something about the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs - and the build-up toward that first game - that just can't be beat.
Whether it's the new playoff branded team sweaters, the anticipation of what this spring could bring, or the oncoming whiteout inside of Canada Life Centre on the horizon, everything just feels different.
It truly is the best time of the National Hockey League calendar.
"You can feel the belief in this room," said Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck after Saturday's optional skate. "This is when push comes to shove and everything is on the line."

The rematch of the 2018 Western Conference Final begins at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday, and while Jets head coach Rick Bowness won't be using that as a main source of inspiration, he won't be surprised if the seven players on the Jets roster (Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler, Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers, Adam Lowry, and Josh Morrissey) plan to do just that.
"I'm sure some of those guys are still upset they ended up losing that series," Bowness said. "Anytime you get to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and you lose, that stays with you."
With it only being an optional skate, a fair 13 Jets regulars took the option to do an off-ice workout instead.

The group will hold two full practices on Sunday and Monday before the start of the series on Tuesday. One thing is for sure, the Jets that take to the ice on Tuesday have been through plenty of adversity to get to this point.
"Obviously we rode the high the first 40-50 games and then we faced the adversity of two and a half months of hearing about it every day, feeling the pressure, about the struggles that we went through," said defenceman Josh Morrissey. "Finding a way to climb out of that and get into the playoffs, I think we've handled a lot this year. Every team goes through it but we feel like we've come out of it at the right time and we believe in our group."
Ahead of a five-game home stand late in the season, Blake Wheeler said to reporters that great teams are forged in fire, and at that moment, the Jets were right in the middle of it.

They won four of five on that home stand, then clinched their wildcard spot the very next night on the road in Minnesota.
Now the reward is the postseason, and the whiteout in downtown Winnipeg that these players have been looking forward to for a long time. The last one came back on April 18, 2019 - just three days shy of four years ago.
Of course, the Jets have made the postseason since that date, but the four-game sweep of the Edmonton Oilers in 2021 was played in an empty building. The players got a taste of it, with car horns blasting well past 2 am CT after the triple overtime victory in Game Four.

But with Game 3 already sold out, and Game Four trending in that direction, the Jets want to give those fans plenty to cheer about when the time comes.
"Playing in Winnipeg, we're fortunate with the history of the whiteout, seeing all the different outfits, seeing how much fun the fans have getting behind us with their support," Lowry said. "It's a small rink, and fans feel like they're on top of you. They're relentless. Seeing videos of the street party and memories from that 2017-18 run kind of gives me chills."

How big of a role do the fans play? Nate Schmidt has a pretty good idea. He was with the Golden Knights in 2018, and he still remembers Game One.
"Stepping here the first time, you didn't really realize what you were getting yourself into, hence the first period of the way it looked," said Schmidt. "I think that it's such an important part of what it means to play here and when it comes to playoff hockey, why it's revered around the league as somewhere that's, it's nuts. And that's what we want. I want that."
There is still plenty of prep work to be done, plans for different line match-ups at home and on the road, special teams, five-on-five, and more, but what the Jets have firmly in their room right now is belief.

Sure, they're going into this series as the eighth seed, but that means nothing once the puck drops.
"I think we think we can beat any team in this league," said Lowry. "We think with the makeup of our roster, with the depth, with the guys we've got on the back-end, with Helly in net, we like our chances against whoever we play. We have some confidence in our group. Now it's about going out and continuing that stretch of hockey that we just had."