Practice Notebook - Mar. 30, 2023

WINNIPEG -Ahead of a crucial five-game home stand, the Winnipeg Jets will make a small tweak to the forward lines, and they're going to a look that head coach Rick Bowness has used on a few occasions this season.
That move is putting Mark Scheifele on the right wing, with Pierre-Luc Dubois in the middle and Kyle Connor on the left side.
"He lines up at wing, but on the right side he'll still be taking some face-offs. Mark is a smart player," Bowness said of Scheifele. "We need to score some goals. So I talked to the three of them this morning and said let's give this a try, and they're all gung-ho for it. So let's see what it looks like."
When together, that trio has controlled play this season, generating a 52-42 edge in shot attempts at five-on-five (according to Natural Stat Trick) and have generated 14 high-danger chances compared to just eight against.
"Everybody knows what Scheif and KC can do," said Dubois. "We've talked a lot today about how we're going to try to play, whether it's on the rush, the D-zone, the O-zone and what-not. But we know it's three skilled players. We have a lot of good players here. No matter what the lines are, we always have a chance to win."

It's all in an effort to get some consistent offence rolling, as the Jets have run into a wall offensively since coming back from the All-Star break. Since February 11, Winnipeg's 2.35 goals per-game is the second fewest in the National Hockey League.

Sometimes, the wall the Jets have hit is almost in a literal sense, as they've ran into hot goaltending on a few occasions - like James Reimer's 0.965 save percentage in the two games Winnipeg has faced the Sharks.
However, the team also feels there is more they can do to turn things back in their favour offensively.
"We get frustrated when there is a clear shot to the net, we have someone going to the net, and we make the extra pass, it gets deflected, and nothing happens," said Bowness. "We want them to make plays. We showed about 20 clips today of the players making great plays coming into the zone. We had a lot of great looks off the rush the last game. We also had some great looks with tips and our defencemen shooting the puck. It goes back to getting our D consistently involved with the attack."
The full line rushes at Thursday's 40-minute practice at Canada Life Centre looked like this:
Connor-Dubois-Scheifele
Ehlers-Namestnikov-Wheeler
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Stenlund-Maenalanen
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt
The other newly formed trio on Thursday saw Nino Niederreiter on the left wing with Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton.

Over the last few games, Bowness has had a number of different left wingers with Lowry and Appleton, with Niederreiter being the most recent change.
"They're doing a good job defensively but they're generating more offence than their numbers show," Bowness said of Lowry and Appleton. "Adam and Apple have played together a long time. They're the top unit on our penalty kill and they do a great job against the opposition's top lines."
Since March 1, Lowry's four goals are tied with three others (Scheifele, Niederreiter, and Nikolaj Ehlers) for the most on the team. Those four goals have all come since March 11, meaning Lowry - and his line - have been on the ice for some of the most crucial Jets offence for the last couple weeks.
He's excited to play with Niederreiter.
"He's great on the forecheck. He's got a great shot. He likes to go to the net," said Lowry. "So, I think he'll complement us really well, just for us to keep being heavy on the forecheck, turning some pucks over and creating some chances off the cycle. He's got some finishing talent and hopefully we can find him a few times in the slot."

At this point of the season, with seven games remaining and a two-point lead over the Calgary Flames (and three over the Nashville Predators) for the final wildcard spot, every game is critical. The Jets will face off with both of those teams over the next week, but the home stand begins on Friday against the Detroit Red Wings.
"We control everything that's going to happen to us to the end of the year," said Dubois. "We know what we can do, and we know what we can achieve if we play the way we can."
Bowness also used some time before practice this morning to remind the players of what the city could be like if the Jets earn a spot in the postseason.
"I had the guys talk this morning about the year they went to semis and the whole city was on fire. It was electric," said Bowness. "That's what we want to bring back to the city."