GAMEDAY: Jets at Blackhawks

CHICAGO - The Winnipeg Jets return from the holiday break tonight with a quick one-game trip to Chicago against the Blackhawks.

The Jets (20-9-3) last played on December 22, when they wrapped up a four-game home stand with a 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins. Overall, the Jets have won two in a row and are 8-1-1 in their last 10.

It's the second meeting of the season between the Jets and Blackhawks, with Winnipeg earning a 3-1 victory on December 2 at Canada Life Centre.

“They have a lot of young players and they’re very good. They have a lot to prove,” said Dylan Samberg. “I think we just have to focus on ourselves and can’t worry too much about our opponents. I think that’s what really brought on a lot of success over the past couple months.”

The first game back after the break is always a challenge, as both teams haven’t skated in three days - or, in Winnipeg’s case, four days. The majority of the team departed the Manitoba capital at 7:15 am on Wednesday morning, which meant the morning routine ahead of tonight’s 8 pm CT start was much different than it normally is.

“Nothing you can do about the schedule part of it, you just have to come prepared,” said Vladislav Namestnikov. “We had a 40-minute skate now, we’ll get a nice lunch in, a nap, then get right back at it.

“We were on a roll and we want to continue it. So it’s right back at it now.”

Winnipeg was in a cheery mood heading into the break, as their win over the Bruins capped off a 3-0-1 home stand.

“Everyone was playing for each other. I felt all lines were playing the same,” said Samberg. “When we play like that, it’s tough to beat us. We just have to make sure we come in every night with the same attitude that we’re going to put the same effort in. It really helped build our confidence going into the break.”

On the other side of the ice, the Blackhawks are coming off a tough loss to the St. Louis Blues on December 23.

Just over five minutes into the third, Nick Foligno scored his second of the game - a shorthanded marker - to put Chicago up 5-2. However, the Blues responded with three goals in a span of 3:13 to tie the game, then went ahead for good on a Justin Faulk wrist shot with 2:07 left in regulation.

The final score was 7-5 in favour of St. Louis, which dropped Chicago’s record to 10-22-1 and 1-6-0 in the last seven.

That one win, however, was against the Colorado Avalanche, who are battling with the Jets and Dallas Stars for top spot in the Central Division.

“I always say, no matter who you’re playing you respect the opposition,” said head coach Rick Bowness. “It doesn’t matter what they’ve done, every NHL line-up is capable of beating another NHL line-up on any given night. We respect their coaches, we respect the way they play, and they obviously have some elite talent up front.”

LINE RUSHES

There were no changes to the Jets line rushes at the morning skate at United Center, however Bowness did say that David Gustafsson is a game-time decision due to a lower-body injury.

If Gustafsson isn’t able to play, Dominic Toninato will slot into the Jets line-up for the first time this season.

The line rushes, with Gustafsson in the line-up, looked like this:

Ehlers-Scheifele-Vilardi

Perfetti-Namestnikov-Iafallo

Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton

Barron-Gustafsson-Jonsson-Fjallby

Morrissey-DeMelo

Dillon-Pionk

Samberg-Schmidt

Connor Hellebuyck, who made 20 saves on 21 shots in the win over Chicago earlier this month, is expected to start in goal. The 2020 VezinaTrophy winner is 6-0-1 in December with a 0.934 save percentage.

ENJOYING THE BREAK

Dylan Samberg enjoyed the few days around Christmas and spent a big part of it with Cole Perfetti’s family.

“My fiancé was in town was well,” said Samberg. “We had a full house, which was nice because usually it’s pretty quiet. I got to do some ice fishing and other than that, just relaxed.”

Even after a few days with family, the Jets were eager to get back to work with their teammates, which was evident during the high-energy morning skate.

“It’s a long day, but you can prepare for this,” said Bowness.

“I think the guys kind of missed it over four days. There was a lot of life in that practice this morning, a lot of chatter in the locker room, a lot of chatter in the change room, so that’s all good to hear.”