Morning Skate Report: Jets at Panthers

SUNRISE - Dave Lowry's jersey is still prominently displayed at FLA Live Arena, and the memories of his time with the Florida Panthers from 1993-1998 gave the Winnipeg Jets interim head coach plenty to smile about ahead of tonight's tilt.
"I remember it being a great place to play, being part of a franchise that was just starting out," said Lowry. "The culture that we created, the identity that we forged for the franchise early on, was something I know all of us that were part of it are extremely proud of."
His smile will be even bigger if the Jets are able to leave the building with two points on Friday night, as they begin a four-game road trip.
Three of the four opponents the Jets will face on the trip - Florida, Carolina, and the New York Rangers - have 100 points in the standings. The only one that doesn't is the Tampa Bay Lightning, and they have 98.
While Lowry has his memories of playing in Florida, the current version of the Panthers is a completely different type of team than the one he made a run to the Stanley Cup Final with in 1996.
"This team that we are playing tonight is obviously a lot more skilled," he said. "The team in '96, we did it as a group, collectively. We were a team that, No. 1, relied heavily on our goaltender (John Vanbiesbrouck) and No. 2, we checked and we had to play and know how to play when we didn't have the puck. We had to rely on four lines, six D and at that point in time, we didn't have the game-breakers that they have here today."

The Jets will try to hand the Panthers just their seventh loss on home ice this season. Florida is 31-6-0 in their building, and the only other team in the National Hockey League with at least 30 wins on home ice is the Colorado Avalanche (30).
In fact, Adam Lowry sees some similarities between the Panthers and the Avalanche, two clubs battling for top spot in the league standings in the regular season's final month.
"They attack with speed, they have incredible depth up front. Contributions all throughout the lineup," he said. "You look at their individual stats, there are a lot of guys have unbelievable years. They're real good through transition. They're real good at coming through the neutral zone and maintaining that puck possession."
While the Jets are still without Mark Scheifele - who was injured in the second period against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday - they will get two faces back in the line-up tonight.

Captain Blake Wheeler draws back in after missing three games with an upper-body injury. Jansen Harkins - who Dave Lowry listed as a game-time decision after Thursday's practice - will also return to game action after missing four games.
Wheeler will jump right back in on the line he was playing with at the time of his injury, and that's on the right wing with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kyle Connor.
"Wheels is a smart player. He's a player that's easy to play with, he finds space, he finds the open guy. He's strong on pucks and helps in the corners," said Dubois. "We have a lot of depth on this team. You can play with anybody and have a good line. To have Wheels back is going to be a boost for us."
The full Jets line rushes from Friday's pre-game skate looked like this:
Connor-Dubois-Wheeler
Barron-Stastny-Ehlers
Sanford-Lowry-Appleton
Harkins-Toninato-Svechnikov
Morrissey-DeMelo
Schmidt-Pionk
Samberg-Dillon
Florida won this season's only other meeting between the two teams back on January 25 by a score of 5-3.
That night, it wasn't so much the likes of Jonathan Huberdeau - currently third in the NHL with 105 points and a league-leading 77 assists - that got to the Jets.
Instead, it was the offensive depth on the Panthers roster that turned the game in Florida's favour.
That depth is a big reason why Florida has a league-leading 302 goals this season.

However, the Jets know they can't just sit back and defend the whole game. Similar to the 5-4 overtime loss the Jets had against the Avalanche three games ago, Winnipeg knows they have to attack.
"You know they're probably going to get one or two tonight," said Adam Lowry. "It's about limiting those chances, it's about not letting those chances turn into three and four more chances where you kind of stop the bleeding, you get some momentum, you get some zone time back. Kind of force them to defend."
The head coach sees it the same way.
"They feel like they are never out of a game. That's a challenge in and of itself," said Dave Lowry. "We will re-emphasize the fact that we're going to have to play and play our best for 60 minutes against these guys."
Puck drop is set for 6 pm CT.