Scheifele admittedly rusty in Jets return

WINNIPEG -- Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele cleared a hurdle by returning to the lineup against the St. Louis Blues on Friday, having missed six weeks and two days after sustaining an upper-body injury against the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 27.
But important hurdles remain for Scheifele, like resuming his high level of play before the injury.

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Scheifele, who missed 16 games, was held without a point and lacked some quickness and impact in 23:32 of ice time in the 5-2 loss at Bell MTS Place.
He played his regular shift, and also had 4:11 of power-play time and 1:36 on the penalty kill.
"Obviously the main thing is it [stinks] we lost," said Scheifele, who had one shot on goal and went 9-for-17 (53 percent) in the face-off circle. "Had to shake off a little bit of rust early but felt better and better as the game went on and got more comfortable."
Scheifele has 38 points (15 goals, 23 assists) in 39 games this season but finding the edge proved difficult against a determined Central Division rival Friday.
"It's a tough game," Scheifele said. "St. Louis plays a tight, defensive game and they don't give you a lot of time and space. There's definitely an adjustment period and that's something I'll just have to continue to work on and figure out and hopefully it gets better shift by shift."

Scheifele, 24, the No. 7 pick of the 2011 NHL Draft, said he didn't detect much special attention from the Blues in his return.
"I don't know. I took a few later hits, so maybe, but anyone coming back from injury, they're going to be hard on you," he said. "They're going to make sure they finish their check, and that's just part of the game."
Scheifele started on a line with Blake Wheeler, who played center for the Jets in his absence, and Patrik Laine.
When Winnipeg fell behind in the second period, coach Paul Maurice switched Mathieu Perreault into Laine's place.
"I thought [he] played hard," Wheeler said. "It's tough to come back under those circumstances against a tough opponent at this time of year. I thought he was driving and gave us a great effort tonight."
Maurice was asked if he thought the Jets relaxed too much or let their intensity fall simply because their No. 1 center returned from injury.
"I didn't feel that," Maurice said. "I thought [Scheifele] looked like everybody else. It would be hard to separate his game. He got better, skated better, as the game wore on. He got into the groove a little bit. He's been out a long time."
While Scheifele was out the Jets went 11-2-3. They are tied with the Nashville Predators for first place in the Central Division with 73 points.
"I think through the whole year we've lost some key players, guys that do certain things well for us," defenseman Dustin Byfuglien said. "So losing Mark was obviously going to be one of those things and we didn't know how we'd handle it.
"But Blake going to the middle and other guys getting more ice time, everyone has stepped up and played their role very well and our game didn't change. We just stuck to our game plan and we did the right things."
Byfuglien said the confidence the Jets built with a sharp first half before Scheifele was injured simply carried on.
"Around the room, there was never panic," he said. "It was 'Scheif is out so the next guy needs to step up.' And whoever stepped up pulled the same rope the same way."
Scheifele and the Jets face their next test Sunday when the New York Rangers visit Bell MTS Place (3 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN3, MSG+, NHL.TV).