GAME DAY: Jets at Lightning

TAMPA BAY, Florida -It's a battle of division leaders tonight as the Winnipeg Jets head into Tampa Bay to take on the Lightning.
It's the second and final time the two teams will meet in the regular season and if the first match-up (a 5-4 overtime Jets win in Winnipeg in December) is any indication, tonight's tilt will be full of speed and scoring chances.
"We're excited. We're into the final stretch here," said Tyler Myers. "Our last two games have been really good for us. We want to try to carry that consistency into the last 17 games here. It'll be a good test tonight back in their barn after a good match-up in ours.
"We'll have to try and bring our best."

At 39-22-4, the Jets come into Tampa Bay with a one-point lead for top spot in the Central Division. With wins over the Nashville Predators and Columbus Blue Jackets in their last two outings, the Jets are feeling confident in their game.
The challenge of coming into Amalie Arena - where the Lightning have a league-best 27-5-2 record - is one the Jets are embracing.
"The good teams are deep straight through four (lines) and on their back end. There isn't a hole, there isn't a weakness," said head coach Paul Maurice. "You're not looking for your advantage when you're playing Tampa in getting one of your lines out and taking advantage of a weak line. It's not there. Everybody has to go and everybody has to be on their toes."
Bryan Little didn't take part in this morning's pregame skate, but Maurice said the veteran forward is good to go for tonight's game. Based on yesterday's practice, the Jets line-up is expected to look like this:
Laine-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Hayes-Ehlers
Tanev-Copp-Little
Perreault-Lindholm-Roslovic
Beaulieu-Trouba
Kulikov-Myers
Chiarot-Niku
Tampa Bay (50-12-4) leads the Atlantic Division and is coming off a 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. The win pushed the Lightning to 9-1-0 in their last 10 games.
Nikita Kucherov had two points and five shots on goal in the win over the Senators, pushing his league-leading point total to 106, a full 12 points clear of Chicago's Patrick Kane.

Kucherov's 75 assists also lead the NHL, with Winnipeg's Blake Wheeler in second with 63.
Of those 106 points, 41 of them have come on the power play for Kucherov. He's a big part of a Tampa power play that is the best in the NHL at 28.9 per cent.
"They've got some great shooters on their team. Kucherov and (Steven) Stamkos are right there, and (Victor) Hedman is a great player as well," said Brandon Tanev. "Taking away their time and space, making things difficult for them, is going to be the challenge or us. If we're aggressive, we can limit their time and space and take away some chances."
Not to be outdone, the Jets power play has scored in five of its last six games (scoring six times) and sits sixth in the NHL at 24.9 per cent.
Patrik Laine has scored three of those six power play goals and says his chemistry at five-on-five with Wheeler and Mark Scheifele continues to grow.
The trio combined for 10 points in the win over Columbus with Wheeler scoring four goals.
"We're playing pretty solid," said Laine. "I think we just have to focus on playing good hockey in each of the three zones. We've been playing pretty good and I think we'll all get better. It's still early, we've only played a handful of games together. I think it will get better."
Tonight's game is the third in a stretch of eight games that sees the Jets play seven current playoff teams.
Myers believes it can be a big step toward developing the consistency the Jets want to have in their game as the regular season schedule winds down.
"It will be a great test for us," said Myers. "The level of play always amps up at this time of year for sure. Everybody gets into playoff mode. We'll do the same. It'll make for some good hockey and we'll try and bring that next step into the last stretch."
-- Mitchell Clinton, WinnipegJets.com
GAME NOTES
Tonight's Game
The Winnipeg Jets continue their four-game road trip tonight by facing the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Sunshine State...The Jets started the road trip with a 5-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night for their second consecutive win...The Jets visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday in the third game of the road trip.
On the Road Again
Winnipeg is 17-14-0 on the road this season and are 3-2-0 in their past five road games...The Jets haven't won back-to-back road games in 2019, but Winnipeg hasn't lost three consecutive road games in regulation since Dec. 10-20/16...The Jets have played 31 road games this season, which is tied for third-fewest in the NHL, but are in a stretch of seven of nine games away from Bell MTS Place...Blake Wheeler leads the Jets in scoring on the road this season with 34 points (8G, 26A) in 31 games...Patrik Laine leads the Jets with 19 goals on the road.
Eastbound
The Jets are 16-8-2 against Eastern Conference teams this season, including 6-5-2 against the Atlantic Division...Winnipeg went 19-7-6 against the Eastern Conference last season, including a 10-3-3 record versus the Atlantic Division and 9-4-3 record against the Metropolitan Division...The Jets have a point in four consecutive games against an Eastern Conference opponent (3-0-1)...Mark Scheifele (16G, 16A) and Blake Wheeler (7G, 25A) lead the Jets with 32 points in 26 games against the Eastern Conference...Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is 12-6-0 with a 2.71 goals-against average and .922 save percentage in 18 games against the Eastern Conference this season.
Late Heroics
In both of their last two games, the Jets have won after being tied going into the third period to improve to 14-0-1 this season when tied after the second period...The Jets are the only team in the NHL this season that is undefeated in regulation when being tied after the second period...The Jets have scored 19 game-winning goals in third periods this season...Nikolaj Ehlers leads the Jets with three third-period game-winning goals, while Blake Wheeler, Andrew Copp, Bryan Little and Adam Lowry have two third-period game-winning goals each.
Springing Ahead
March and April have historically been successful months for the Jets, as the team has gone 79-51-15 in those two months since relocation...During the past three seasons, the Jets are 29-8-2 in March and April, including a perfect 8-0-0 in April...Blake Wheeler is the franchise's leading scorer in March with 113 points (44G, 69A) in 120 games, while Mark Scheifele has 56 points (22G, 34A) in 58 games...Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is 14-5-2 during his career in March with a 2.64 goals-against average and .918 save percentage.
Star Captain
The NHL announced on Monday that Jets captain Blake Wheeler is the league's second star of the week...Wheeler opened the week with an assist in Winnipeg's 3-2 setback to Minnesota on Tuesday...On Friday, the Jets captain scored and added a pair of assists in the Jets' 5-3 comeback win over the Nashville Predators...On Sunday, Wheeler recorded his first career four-goal game in Winnipeg's 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets...The Plymouth, Minn. native's four-goal effort was the seventh hat trick by a Jets player this season, which paces all NHL teams...Wheeler led the NHL with five goals and eight points this week...On the season, Wheeler has 80 points (17G, 63A) in 65 games and he is second in the NHL in assists (63) and tied for ninth place in points (80)...Wheeler has surpassed the 60-assist and 70-point plateaus for the fourth straight campaign and his 65 games to reach 80 points is the second-fewest required to hit that mark in franchise history (Ilya Kovalchuk, 61 games in 2005-06)...This is the second time this season (also Nov. 12 - Second Star) and the fourth time in his career that Wheeler has been selected in the NHL's Three Stars of the Week.
Closing in on a Career Year
While he leads the Jets in goals this season with 32, Mark Scheifele matched a single-game career high with three assists on Sunday...Scheifele has matched the career-high 32 goals he scored during the 2016-17 season in 79 games...Scheifele is seven assists away from matching his career-high 50 assists, which he also accomplished during the 2016-17 season.
VIEW FULL GAME NOTES
Backend Production
Newly acquired Nathan Beaulieu notched two assists against Columbus on Sunday for his first points as a member of the Jets...It's the fifth time in his career that he had two assists in a game...Sami Niku scored his first goal of the season on Sunday in his 18th game with the Jets this season...He also had three goals in 20 games with the Manitoba Moose this season.