Jets return home looking to get back in series

WINNIPEG – The stakes for the Winnipeg Jets are very clear when they play Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday at MTS Centre (9 p.m. ET; NHLN-US, NBCSN [JIP], TVA, SN,PRIME).

Anaheim leads the best-of-7 series 2-0, leaving Winnipeg with the task of having to win four of the final five games to advance to the second round. The Ducks went 3-0-0 against the Jets in the regular season.

"I think we're just trying to get some momentum back our way in this series," Jets center Bryan Little said Monday after the morning skate. "Tonight is a huge game. They can either take a pretty good commanding lead or we can make it a new series, and the momentum [will be] in our hands. It's kind of put everything on the line and see what happens tonight."

The Jets are hoping for a home-ice boost in Winnipeg, where the city will host its first playoff game in 19 years. The Jets went 23-13-5 at MTS Centre in the regular season, including a 12-2-2 run in the second half.

"It's a really special day for the people that have been here a long time, losing a team a number of years ago and then having it come full circle," forward Blake Wheeler said. "It's a great day for the people of Winnipeg. For us as players, we're more focused on the task tonight. It's going to be a celebration for our community, and we're excited to be a part of it."

However, Jets players realize the need to control their emotion in front of their home fans and avoid penalty trouble against a Ducks power play that has caused them problems in each of the first two games.

Coach Paul Maurice will stress 5-on-5 play in Game 3. Anaheim has three power-play goals in seven opportunities in the series. Winnipeg has not scored in its seven power-play chances.

"You're always trying to walk that line," Little said. "I think we're still trying to find that a bit. It's not like we've been taking a ton of penalties, but we're losing the special-teams battle right now, so we have to be extra careful."

Maurice will deploy the same lineup he used in Game 2 at Anaheim. Captain Andrew Ladd again did not participate in the morning skate, but he will dress for Game 3. Defenseman Tyler Myers also did not practice, but he will remain in the lineup.

Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec will start for the Jets.

With three goals in their first two playoff games, the Jets need to start producing offensively. Ladd does not have a goal in his past 13 games, and Little has one assist in seven games since returning from an upper-body injury at the end of March.

"Five-on-five, we're at three and three [goals], for [each team]," Maurice said. "I would concede that [Anaheim] had a higher number of chances in Game 2 than in Game 1."

"We are going to need to get above the ledger 5-on-5, on the positive side of that, given where the special-teams race is at right now. So we will be looking for things we can do, those [top-end] players, but also our whole group to increase the general offense of our team."

Here are the projected lineups:

DUCKS

Patrick Maroon - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry

Matt Beleskey - Ryan Kesler - Kyle Palmieri

Andrew Cogliano - Rickard Rakell - Jakob Silfverberg

Emerson Etem - Tomas Fleischmann - Tim Jackman

Hampus Lindholm - Francois Beauchemin

Cam Fowler - Simon Despres

Clayton Stoner - Sami Vatanen

Frederik Andersen

Jason LaBarbera

Scratched: Korbinian Holzer, Jiri Sekac, James Wisniewski

Injured: John Gibson (upper body), Nate Thompson (upper body), Chris Wagner (upper body)

JETS

Andrew Ladd - Bryan Little - Michael Frolik

Drew Stafford - Mark Scheifele - Blake Wheeler

Mathieu Perreault - Adam Lowry - Lee Stempniak

Jiri Tlusty - Jim Slater - Chris Thorburn

Adam Pardy - Dustin Byfuglien

Toby Enstrom - Tyler Myers

Mark Stuart - Jacob Trouba

Ondrej Pavelec

Michael Hutchinson

Scratched: Ben Chiarot, Andrew Copp, Keaton Ellerby, TJ Galiardi, Matt Halischuk, Jay Harrison, Eric O'Dell, Anthony Peluso

Injured: Grant Clitsome (upper body), Paul Postma (lower body)

Status report: Harrison skated with Enstrom in place of Myers in the morning skate and Halischuk replaced Ladd. ...Chiarot will be a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game.

Who's hot: Lowry has a goal and an assist in his first two games of the series. … Stuart leads the Jets with 11 hits and six blocked shots.