GAME DAY: Jets at Avalanche

DENVER, Colorado -A Central Division tilt is the first of three games the Winnipeg Jets will play away from home this week, as they face off with the Colorado Avalanche tonight at Pepsi Center.
The two teams met less than a week ago, with the Avalanche skating to a 4-1 win at Bell MTS Place. It was the first time in the season's three meetings that Winnipeg had ended up on the losing end.
Now with the fourth of five meetings with the Avalanche coming tonight, the Jets (36-19-4) want to be a much better team than they were six days ago.

As a team, they want to develop more consistency with 22 games to go on the schedule.
"You want to have a structure that you're confident in, guys believe in and buy-in to," said captain Blake Wheeler. "You try to do that every single night and give yourself a lot of confidence going into the end of the season so you can be trying to play your best hockey."
The Jets took two days away from the rink following Saturday's overtime setback to the Ottawa Senators, but still remain in the Central Division's top spot with 76 points.
Those two days were important not only for physical rest, but mental rest as well. The importance of that time away was evident on Tuesday when the Jets returned to the rink for practice.
"Yesterday especially, I liked the practice," said head coach Paul Maurice. "We had good pace. Everybody's eyes were on the board while we were doing video. So it was a good reset for us to get back at it."

That rejuvenated Jets squad took to the ice at Pepsi Center this morning for the pre-game skate and based on the line rushes from that short session, they will go with the same line-up as against the Senators:
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Laine-Little-Roslovic
Perreault-Lowry-Tanev
Lemieux-Copp-Appleton
Morrissey-Trouba
Kulikov-Myers
Chiarot-Niku
Maurice said he isn't necessarily committed to keeping these lines the same, however.
"We've talked about that an awful lot in the coaches' office about where we'd go next. I might have two cards on the bench tonight so we have an idea of how we'd move things around," said Maurice. "So much of it is the game that's being played. The line you didn't like last game you might like an awful lot tonight. You don't want to change more than you have to."

Speaking of line juggling, Colorado split up their top line of Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog, and Nathan MacKinnon in Monday's 3-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights.
The trio combined to score the game's eventual game-winning goal in Winnipeg on Feb. 14. But having them split up doesn't change how dangerous they are according to Mark Scheifele.
"They're still three very talented players that are in their line-up," said Scheifele. "They're deadly together, but they're all talented players that can make you pay at any time. We need all four lines and all six (defencemen) to stop them.
"We have to be on them quick and eliminate their time and space."

Colorado is one point back of Minnesota for the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference and has an 11-12-5 record at Pepsi Center this season. Despite that record though, Wheeler feels the Avalanche are a tough team to handle in front of their fans.
"Typically they come out with fast starts here," said Wheeler. "With a couple days between games, we're going to have to fight to get our legs and get our game where we want it. It's a great challenge coming in here.
"Things haven't been easy for us, so it'll be a good way to get back at it."
Connor Hellebuyck is expected to get the start in goal with puck drop set for 7:30 pm CT.
ICE CHIPS
Nikolaj Ehlers participated in the morning skate in a non-contact jersey on Wednesday. Maurice said the plan is to have Ehlers skate every day during the nearly week-long trip.
Ehlers hasn't played since colliding with Sidney Crosby against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 4, 2019.
-- Mitchell Clinton, WinnipegJets.com
GAME NOTES
Tonight's Game
The Winnipeg Jets visit the Colorado Avalanche tonight in the first game of a three-game road trip…The Jets went 1-1-1 during a three-game homestand last week, which ended with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night…Winnipeg continues the road trip on Friday against the Vegas Golden Knights.
On the Road Again
Winnipeg is 15-12-0 on the road this season…The Jets are 3-4-0 in their past seven road games and haven't won consecutive road games in 2019…The Jets went 23-11 on the road in 2018…Winnipeg hasn't lost three consecutive road games in regulation since Dec. 10-20/16…The Jets have played 27 road games this season, which is the fewest in the NHL…Blake Wheeler leads the Jets in scoring on the road this season with 26 points (4G, 22A) in 27 games.
Power Outage
The Jets have gone 0-for-19 on the power play in their past seven games…It's their longest stretch of the season without a power play goal…The franchise record of most consecutive games without a power play goal is 12 games, which occurred from Feb. 8-Mar. 14/02…Winnipeg's past 23 goals have been scored at even strength or shorthanded.
Central Foes
The Jets are 10-8-0 against Central Division teams this season…Since the start of the 2016-17 season, the Jets are 44-25-4 against Central Division teams, which is first in the NHL…In that same time frame, Blake Wheeler leads all NHLers in scoring against the Central Division with 92 points (27G, 65A) in 73 games, while Mark Scheifele is second with 85 points (34G, 51A) in 65 games.
Taking Their Shots
The Jets have been outshot in four consecutive games, but have earned at least a point in three of the four games by going 2-1-1…Winnipeg is 22-10-4 when being outshot this season, which is the third most wins in the NHL…The Jets are averaging 31.8 shots per game this season and 33.5 shots against per game.
Time Travellers
The Jets play their next six games in three different time zones and play consecutive games in the same time zone just once…The Jets play the three games of this road trip in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones before returning home to the Central Time Zone for two games and then going to the Eastern Time Zone for four games.
VIEW FULL GAME NOTES
Dominating the Dot
The Jets have won 98-of-165 (59.4%) faceoffs in their past three games…Adam Lowry has won 42-of-60 (70%) faceoffs in the three games, including winning 15 faceoffs in back-to-back games…He won a season-high 17 faceoffs on Oct. 18 at VAN…Lowry has won more than 50% of his faceoffs in five of his past six games…He has climbed to third in the NHL with a 57.8% faceoff winning percentage…At 25 years old, Lowry is the youngest player in the NHL's top 10 for faceoff winning percentage.
Dandy Tanny
Brandon Tanev has scored in back-to-back games to grow his career high for goals to 13…He also has a career high 23 points and 11 assists…He had two shorthanded points in the first period on Saturday to tie a franchise record for most shorthanded points in a period…Tanev has expanded his offensive prowess with a career-high 98 shots and career-best 13.3% shooting percentage…Eleven of his 13 goals this season have come at even strength.
Seeing Double
Defenceman Tyler Myers scored twice against Ottawa on Saturday…It's his first multi-goal game as a member of the Jets and first multi-goal game since Jan. 18/14 when he was a member of the Buffalo Sabres…Jets defencemen have tallied 139 points (26G, 113A) this season, which is fourth most in the NHL, and have factored in on eight of Winnipeg's past 11 goals.