GAMEDAY: Jets vs Canadiens

WINNIPEG - For the fourth time in the past five seasons, the Winnipeg Jets have posted a winning record in the month of October.
But as the calendar flips over to November, the Jets know they'll have to play much better if they want to improve their 5-3-1 record.
That starts tonight against the Montreal Canadiens.
"Our starts are what has hurt us for the most part," said Pierre-Luc Dubois. "Five out of six (points on the last road trip) feels good, but our starts can be a lot better. We're lucky enough to start tonight at home."
Winnipeg was outshot 44-17 in the first period on the last road trip, and now with two full days of practice and a well-attended optional skate behind them, they're ready to be much better from the drop of the puck.
"We talk about our forechecking and how we want to be a good team at that," said Dubois. "That's kind of where it starts and that's where your game develops maybe at the blue lines in the second and third, the D's are backing off and then you have more time to make plays."

Head coach Rick Bowness will return to the Jets bench tonight after missing the road trip.

His conversations with the players over the last couple days have revolved around finding ways to break the habits they fall into when they chase the game.
"When you're chasing the game, you get tired, and you go back into your bad habits," Bowness said. "We'll take where we are with the understanding - and the players we had a great talk about this the other day - we have to play better, we do, and we can."
While there weren't any line rushes on Thursday morning, there will be changes to the Jets line-up.
Morgan Barron will miss the next 4-5 weeks due to a wrist injury requiring surgery.
"It's a small bone in there, and the more you play with it and the more it gets aggravated," said Bowness. "For the team, he was sucking it up and playing through it, but there comes a point where it affects the way you play."
With Barron out, Saku Maenalanen will move up to Adam Lowry's wing, and Dominic Toninato will draw into the Jets line-up for the first time this season.

With those changes in mind, the Jets line-up is projected to look like this, with Connor Hellebuyck getting the start in goal:
Connor-Scheifele-Appleton
Perfetti-Dubois-Wheeler
Maenalanen-Lowry-Gagner
Jonsson-Fjallby-Gustafsson-Toninato
Morrissey-Pionk
Dillon-Schmidt
Samberg-DeMelo
The Canadiens (5-5-0) are coming off a 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday with tonight's tilt in Winnipeg being the final stop on a four-game road trip.
"They've got some young guys on their team that play with that - I'm 24 so I'm still young, so it's funny to talk about young players - but they play with that youthness and that excitement level," said Dubois. "It's going to be a tough game tonight. They don't have much to lose this year, I don't think. They just play freely and they've had mixed results this year, but it's going to be a dangerous game for us."
One player on the Canadiens roster that will be familiar to the Jets is Johnathan Kovacevic, who was claimed off waivers by Montreal earlier this season.
He doesn't have any points in 10 games so far, but David Gustafsson - who played on the Manitoba Moose with Kovacevic from 2019-2021 - said he won't be taking it easy on his old teammate.
"I saw him yesterday," Gustafsson grinned. "I told him we'll be circling his number on the forecheck. He's going to have to be ready for it."
Establishing that forecheck, as Dubois mentioned, is a key part to a quality start for the Jets. While Gustafsson's line will undergo a bit of a change with Toninato on the right wing as opposed to Maenalanen, the same principles still apply.

Bowness has been complimentary of that trio's work as of late. According to Natural Stat Trick, they've generated as much offence as they've given up at five-on-five (six high-danger chances for and against),and have a small lead in the expected goals category at 1.4-1.31.
"When things aren't going well, it's that line that you notice is getting that game turned around because they're keeping it simple and they're playing the way we need them to play," said Bowness. "When we're showing a lot of the video about how we want to play, it's the fourth line we're seeing a lot of."
So the mission tonight is to do that, over and over again, throughout the line-up.
"We have to do things better than we've done in the past couple games here," said Gustafsson. "It's our home rink too. We have to go out and show what team we are and how we want to play."
Puck drop is set for 7 pm CT.
-- Mitchell Clinton, WinnipegJets.com
Game Notes
The Winnipeg Jets begin a three-game homestand on Thursday night when they welcome the Montreal Canadiens to Canada Life Centre. The Jets are coming off a 2-0-1 road trip, which ended with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.
The Jets went 5-3-1 in October, marking the fourth time in the past five seasons they posted a winning record in October.
Mark Scheifele led the team with six goals in the month, while Josh Morrissey had a team-best eight assists.
The Jets have overcome two-goal deficits in each of their past two wins. The Jets had 22 comeback wins last season, which was tied for seventh in the NHL.
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