WINNIPEG – Nino Niederreiter is a lucky man.
The Winnipeg Jet forward continued skating with his teammates today and is inching closer to a return. But we might not be talking about this had it not been for cut resistant socks and some luck. Niederreiter received a cut close to his Achilles tendon on April 1 against the Los Angeles Kings.
“It was kind of a scary play. I felt something in my leg, but I didn’t know exactly what it was. So, I reached down a couple times and felt some blood. It started getting warm,” said Niederreiter after Monday’s skate.
“That’s when I knew I had to get off and see what’s up. I got extremely lucky. It nicked my Achilles a little bit. Had to get a few stitches. Glad I’m standing here right now.”
The Swiss forward said the cut required eight stitches to close and added that he has been wearing cut resistant socks for quite some time now. Jets head coach Rick Bowness said if Niederreiter feels good tomorrow like he did on Monday, there is a good chance he will play against Seattle.
David Gustafsson has to be given some credit for how he played in Niederreiter’s absence playing on the third line with Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton against Dallas and Colorado. Gustafsson scored once and added a couple of assists and was a plus three.
“His mindset whenever he came in, he did his job very well,” said Niederreiter of Gustafsson.
“He competes extremely hard in practice, works hard day in and day out. It’s always great to see a player like him get rewarded.”
The Jets have to be excited with how they are playing with two games left in the regular season. They have won six straight sweeping their four-game road trip against Central Division rivals including outscoring Dallas and Colorado 10-0 in the last two games.
“It's little mistakes like line changes and turnovers that make a big difference this time of year,” said Connor Hellebuyck.
“And I think you see us managing the game very well in that aspect. So, our team game looks pretty similar, but our mistakes aren't nearly as costly.”
That team game has Winnipeg up to 50 wins this season and all they need over these final two home games is one point to clinch second place in the division and home ice advantage in their first round series with the Avalanche. They face the Kraken Tuesday and the Canucks on Thursday.
“All our focus is on tomorrow night’s game, that’s all we’re focusing on, taking care of business tomorrow night. That’s why I told them this morning you know what you need to get ready for tomorrow,” said Bowness.
“If you need to skate today and tomorrow, skate today and tomorrow, if you don’t need to skate, don’t skate. Whatever you do, put all our focus, all our energy, on that game tomorrow night and we’ll go from there.”
While home ice is important, the players and coaches have been firm on making sure their game is right especially before they left for Nashville last week. The six-game win streak has been nice but there has been some turbulence getting to where they are right now leading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“Yeah, we’re right there. I mean we didn’t play well in Nashville. We had a bad game in Nashville. First period was okay, after that we didn’t play well. We’re close,” said Bowness.
“We’re right there and we just gotta make sure we keep it going. But our focus isn’t on Colorado, (it) isn’t on Dallas, it’s on Seattle, getting ready for tomorrow night.”
