IRVING, TX – After the Winnipeg Jets saw a four-game win streak come to an end Thursday night in Dallas, the process of moving forward and focusing on the next task began with a 30-minute practice on Friday.
“Today is where you get not only your body back on the ice, but your mind,” said Jets defenceman Nate Schmidt. “You say ‘I didn’t forget how to play hockey in 24 hours, I didn’t forget the things that make me successful.’ You look at today, and on the whole, you can get yourself in a better frame of mind for tomorrow.”
That’s an important ability to have, as Winnipeg’s schedule is unrelenting in the month of March. One loss can’t be dwelled on too long, and one win can’t be savoured for much longer than 10-12 hours.
So the preparation for the second stop on the road trip – the final meeting of the regular season with the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday – began bright and early.
“You look through last night and you look at what worked and what didn’t, personally,” said Schmidt. “Then you get to the rink today and you make sure you don’t let that seep into your practice. I think that’s the biggest part about being a pro. There are still 82 games. You have to make sure you’re ready to go the next day. If you don’t, this league will chew you up.”
The Jets (37-16-5) are a seasoned group. Schmidt has 648 games under his belt, and former Hurricane Nino Niederreiter will play his 868th career game on Saturday. They both know – at this time of the year especially – wins are tougher to come by.
“It’s a hard league to win in the first place,” said Niederreiter. “You’re going to go through stretches where you should be winning and you lose games, and - especially lately - we’ve been winning games we necessarily shouldn’t have won. That’s something that keeps us honest.”
As a group, the Jets felt their own mistakes led to the three first period goals that Dallas scored. The final 40 minutes were tightly contested, as was expected between the two top teams in the Central Division, but Schmidt says he’s seeing every team the Jets face finding another level.
It’s always said that the game gets harder as the season goes on. From a defenceman’s standpoint, Schmidt says one of the biggest challenges is there is less time to make decisions.
“The amount of time you have the puck on your stick uncontested just shrinks,” he said. “Whether that’s offensively or defensively, going through the neutral zone, I think that’s the biggest key this time of year. You get that extra stride from the back checker, you do get that extra push on the forecheck to try and get there.”
But challenges like that are a big reason why the players love the game as much as they do. They want to come together and find a way to succeed.
Even with the loss to Dallas, the Jets have won five of their past seven. It’s not lost on them, though, that they need to clean up certain aspects of their game.
“Playing a team like Dallas that’s going to be a contender for a Stanley Cup here, and that’s something that we set the bar pretty high and something we have to look up to,” said Niederreiter. “Every single game, it matters even more. There is a chance that you can clinch early and there is a chance you can position yourself in a good spot in the playoffs. That’s something we want to do.
“We want to make sure that it doesn’t come down to the last week where we play Central teams in five of the last seven games. That’s something we all know is coming up.”
MISSING IN PRACTICE
Gabriel Vilardi was one of four Jets forwards that didn’t practice on Friday.
He didn’t play any of the third period against Dallas due to an upper-body injury, but the forward remained on the bench throughout the final 20 minutes.
Immediately after the game, head coach Rick Bowness said there was some concern about Vilardi’s availability for Saturday in Carolina. One day later, he was slightly more optimistic.
“(We’re) hoping he can play tomorrow,” Bowness said. “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”
Along with Vilardi, Sean Monahan, Mason Appleton, and Nikolaj Ehlers stayed off the ice Friday morning.
Bowness said all of them would be considered game-time decisions.
“We won’t know our line-up until we get to the rink (on Saturday,” he said.
NO PRE-SCOUT NEEDED
Winnipeg won the first meeting with Carolina back in December, a 2-1 final that saw Laurent Brossoit make a season-high 42 saves on 43 shots.
The Jets expect the Hurricanes, who have won each of their last two games, to bring a similar effort. For years, Carolina has been a team that puts a ton of pucks to the net and is often one of the league leaders in average shots per-game.
“You know what’s coming. You don’t have to sit back and think of what they’re going to throw at you,” said Schmidt. “I could go through their pre-scout right now and say ‘this is probably what they’re going to do tomorrow.’ With that knowledge comes an expectation of yourself to be ready to play that type of game.”
The basis of Carolina’s style is pressure. Bowness complimented the Hurricanes for finding players over the years that fit that type of game, and said that will be the biggest difference between the Stars and Hurricanes.
“These guys pressure the puck more than Dallas. They pressure you all over the ice,” said Bowness. “Their D are up, their forwards are coming hard, and in their zone they’re chasing you all over the place. They’re big, they’re fast, and they’re physical. Dallas last night, they started to back up a little bit, clog up the neutral zone, you’re not going to see that against Carolina.”
Puck drop is set for 11:30 am CT.
