Ehlers hitting his stride

As the Winnipeg Jets head out on the road for a three-game trip starting in Las Vegas on Thursday, all signs are pointing to Nikolaj Ehlers returning to form.

The Jets forward scored one of the teams two goals during Monday’s overtime loss to the Rangers and now has two in his last three games. Keep in mind, Ehlers missed the majority of training camp and didn’t play in a single preseason contest.

“The biggest thing him and I talk about is holding on to pucks. When he holds on to pucks, he's hard to play against,” said interim head coach Scott Arniel last night.

“People can't get it away from him and he utilizes his speed, which is his best asset.”

The 27-year-old has 18 shots over his last three games compared to just 10 in his first six contests.

“Yeah, I’m trying to shoot more,” said Ehlers Monday night.

“It’s the only way you’re going to score. I’m going to continue doing that.”

Linemate Cole Perfetti has the primary assist on both of the Danish forwards goals this season and has noticed that Ehlers has been getting more pucks to the net.

“Having that threat, people are going to start backing off or coming at him a little bit more, one of the two. It’s either going to open up a shot for him more or a passing lane. He’s obviously got the vision to make the pass, so, I think we need that as a line. We can all start shooting a little more,” said Perfetti.

“But yeah, that’s a lot of shots, that’s good. That means we’re getting a lot of opportunities in the offensive zone and playing and creating lots as a line. Hopefully we can keep that up. If he keeps that shooting up, hopefully a lot of goals are going to go in the net. It’s exciting.”

The Jets second line of Ehlers, Perfetti and Vlad Namestnikov will be important going forward as opposition teams focus on shutting down the Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Alex Iafallo trio.

“I think we’ve played really good games. We haven’t spent a lot of time in our own zone. When we have, we’ve gotten the puck out and played really well. It’s that patient game we’ve got to get a little bit better at,” said Ehlers.

“We got some zone time, got some turnovers down there and created some chances. We’re going to continue working on that.”

The Jets will play Vegas Thursday, Arizona on Saturday and wrap up the trip with their second matchup of the season with the St. Louis Blues.