'Everyone here is all-in': Stars set to face Jets in key matchup

Stars (27-20-2, 56 points) vs. Jets (22-20-8, 52 points)

Pressure is privilege, according to Stars coach Rick Bowness - and he's right about that.
To a point.
It'd be great to have a playoff spot pretty much clinched and have a huge cushion to play with down the stretch of the season, but it's also pretty fun to be in the mix to earn a playoff spot. At this time, the Stars are in a group of six teams fighting for four playoff spots.
That's daunting, like when the teams play each other - as Dallas will do when it plays host to the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday and then travels to Nashville on Thursday.
These two games come after Dallas struggled with intensity early and ended up losing at Arizona Sunday, 3-1. Players say they learned from the experience.
"I think everyone here is all-in now," said forward Joe Pavelski. "You can't sit here worrying about it and then look back in a month and be like 'Aw, I wish everyone stayed' or this or that. Guys are in. Guys want to make the playoffs."
Bowness said that while he understands the tendency to let down against a struggling Coyotes team, Dallas doesn't have a ton of wiggle room in the standings.
"It's human nature to think you might have an easier opponent just to take your foot off the gas enough," Bowness said. "And that's all it takes."

He added, though, that the Stars have maintained pretty consistent intensity during a 9-4-0 run.
"For the most part, it has been good," Bowness said. "It certainly wasn't there on Sunday for two periods. Chicago was good, the game in Colorado, they're a good team. We're three points out of a playoff spot, these games are huge coming up."
Winnipeg is 22-20-8 and behind the Stars in the standings, so the Jets are even more desperate than Dallas. The Stars took a 4-3 win over Winnipeg two weeks ago, but Bowness said he believes the Jets are playing good hockey.
"They played really well in Calgary, and they played well against us," Bowness said. "They're a good team. They're well balanced, they've got a great goalie, they're big and heavy on the forecheck, and they've got four good lines."

What to watch

Jake Oettinger will start for the fourth consecutive game and for the eighth time in the past nine on Wednesday.
It's a pretty strong statement from the 23-year-old.
"The team, they have a lot of confidence in Jake right now, he's playing really well," Bowness said. "Like any pro, you get out there and you're playing well, and you want to keep playing. He's playing really well, he's feeling really good about himself, and when that happens you let them play."
During this stretch, Oettinger is 5-2-0 with a 2.03 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage. He was named the NHL's Third Star of the Week for last week's play. Oettinger said he's simply trying to ride the wave.
"For me, lately, I'm just going with the flow," Oettinger said. "Nothing is in my head, really, I'm just playing. That's when goalies are at their best. It's just getting in the right frame of mind and going out and playing and having fun."
Bowness said depending on the workload Oettinger gets Wednesday and how he performs, he could be a candidate to play Thursday at Nashville.

Lineup update

Here is a possible lineup:
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Benn-Seguin-Gurianov
Raffl-Faksa-Glendening
Kiviranta-Peterson-Radulov
Suter-Heiskanen
Lindell-Klingberg
Harley-Hakanpaa
Oettinger
Holtby

Numbers

3-4-0

Dallas is 3-4-0 in its past seven home games. It's 17-7-1 at home on the season.

48

Tyler Seguin has 48 points (26 goals, 22 assists) in 42 career games against the Jets.

2.52

Jets goalie Conner Hellebuyck is 9-5-3 in his career against the Stars with a 2.52 GAA and .921 save percentage.

He said it

"You can't get ahead of yourselves. The mindset has to be right. If you show up and work and do your job and focus on that, usually everything takes care of itself." -- Pavelski on taking things one game at a time
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This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.