Jonsson-Fjallby set to make season debut

WINNIPEG – Wednesday morning, Axel-Jonsson Fjallby thought he was on his way to eastern Canada with the Manitoba Moose for their six-game road trip that is scheduled to start tomorrow in Belleville.

Those plans changed when the Jets recalled the Swedish forward after Rasmus Kupari was lost for 4-6 weeks with a shoulder injury. Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff called Jonsson-Fjallby in the afternoon to let him know the news.

“For me personally, first couple of games I was struggling a little bit,” said Jonsson-Fjallby after practice today.

“I feel like I've been playing a lot better lately. I'm obviously really glad to get the call up.”

Jonsson-Fjallby will play against the Buffalo Sabres Friday and from the looks of it will play with some familiar faces on the fourth line with David Gustafsson and Morgan Barron.

“Yeah, for sure. Me and Gus played, I think, pretty much every game last year together, and Morgan is really easy to play with,” said Jonsson-Fjallby.

“You know what you're going to get from him. They're both really good players.”

Certainly, you know what you’re going to get from the 25-year-old when he makes his season debut.

“We’ve used him on the penalty kill last season,” said assistant coach Brad Lauer.

“Being able to play both sides of the line, left wing and right wing, that definitely benefits us being a little more creative with our lines. Like I said, he brings a lot of speed to that line, for sure.”

A strange weekend is ahead schedule wise for the Jets when they play back-to-back games at Canada Life Centre, tomorrow against the Sabres and Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes. The back-to-back happens often in an NHL season, just not on home ice.

“It’s a little bit different. It’s a lot better than traveling, that’s for sure. The wear and tear on us should be a lot easier on us going into the second game,” said Lauer.

“Our main focus, we can’t look too far ahead. We talk about it all of the time, it’s what’s right in front of us and right now, we’ve gotta make sure we’re ready for Buffalo.” 

Lauer is in charge of the Jets power play which has been very efficient scoring at least once in five of the last six games going 7-for-22 (31.8%).

“You go through some growing pains over the course of a year. Unfortunately, we started out with some growing pains and that’s something you don’t want to have for as long. But credit to our guys, they found a way,” said Lauer.

“But I think the biggest thing is when we start not having success on our power play, we stop shooting the puck, we stop getting to the net. That’s what we got back to doing. Keep it simple. That’s the best way to get back on track.”