Jets dealing with adversity in Game 4 against Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS -- The Winnipeg Jets will be facing adversity for the first time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN1, TVAS).
Winnipeg trails in a series and has lost consecutive games for the first time in the postseason. Vegas leads the best-of-7 series 2-1 after winning 3-1 in Game 2 on Monday and 4-2 in Game 3 on Wednesday.

"We have a lot of belief in our group," forward Adam Lowry said Thursday. "You look at the depth of our team and it seems like a lot of different guys step up at different times. For whatever reason, we haven't been able to go on these long losing streaks. We've been able to stop them."
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Winnipeg's playoff journey has been about uncharted territory and taking new paths.
Among the mileposts: First playoff win and first series victory in franchise history in the first round against the Minnesota Wild, and first appearance and first victory in a Game 7 in the second round against the Nashville Predators.
But now they face adversity. A loss in Game 4 would make it Winnipeg's worst stretch of the 2017-18 season.
In reaching 114 points (52-20-10) in the regular season, the Jets' longest losing streak was three games (0-2-1) twice, Dec. 5-9 and March 10-13, which speaks to their consistency.
Coach Paul Maurice said the Jets have dealt with adversity during the regular season, including overcoming 285 man-games lost to injury.
"Really didn't miss a beat, played really strongly throughout," Maurice said. "Everyone has their big, big nights when you score a lot of goals, but so much of the hockey we played this year was pretty tight. You had to be focused and you had to be right to win those games. We got good at it."
In Game 3, Winnipeg fell behind 3-1 at 8:13 of the second period but then applied pressure and cut the margin to 3-2 on Mark Scheifele's second goal of the game 18 seconds into the third period. It was his NHL-high 14th goal of the postseason and NHL-record-setting 11th road goal.

The push in the second half of the game forced Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to make 30 of his 33 saves in the second and third periods.
"You look at the third period, that's more the template of how our team needs to play to be successful," Lowry said. "You can take positives out of a game like that. It's a disappointing loss. You usually are able to go on to the next game feeling confident. That's why we are able to bounce back so well."
Forward Paul Stastny said the Jets have been good at turning the page.
"If you take a loss, you look at what went well and what went bad, then forget about it," he said. "Tomorrow is a fresh start."
Another reason the Jets sound confident in their ability to respond is their faith in goalie Connor Hellebuyck, one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy this season. Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators are the other finalists.
"He just hasn't ever got down on himself," defenseman Dustin Byfuglien said. "I think that's been the big thing. One [goal] gets in, he's like: 'Oh well, that happens.' You've got to continue to play and [he] finishes his game out strong. He's stayed pretty confident back there and that's been good for us."
Like his team, Hellebuyck had no prolonged slumps during the regular season, never losing three games in a row. He was 0-2 twice, Jan. 12-13 and Feb. 9-11; 0-1-1 twice, Dec. 5-9 and March 10-12; and 0-0-2 Jan. 25-Feb. 1.
He made 64 starts and was 44-11-9 with a 2.36 goals-against average and .924 save percentage, and set an NHL record for most wins in a season by a United States-born goalie.

"He's got an extremely high belief in his ability," Lowry said. "He's got a good confidence with his game. He's real poised in the net. You look at the way [Montreal Canadiens goalie] Carey Price moves around the net, I see a lot of similarities in the way he moves throughout the crease. He's done a real good job of bouncing back after games where he hasn't been thrilled with his effort.
"He's been the backbone of our team all year. We've benefited from having such strong goaltending at different times throughout the year, and he's nominated for the Vezina for a reason."
While their belief is strong, the Jets won't be tricking themselves into believing that the number of offensive chances they generated in Game 3 will be good enough in Game 4.
"There would be lots of offense in [Game 3] to score a bunch more," Maurice said. "It's really dangerous to be up here sitting and talking about offense because as soon as you start doing that you've got your mind not right.
"I've watched a lot of very good teams say 'Hey, if we just bury our chances and we'll win the game.' That's another dangerous thing to be selling here [to the media] or in my locker room. But we liked what we had. We think the quality of it has increased [as the series moved on]."