GAMEDAY: Jets at Canucks

VANCOUVER -For the first time in nearly a month, Winnipeg Jets forward Nate Thompson will suit up as the Jets continue a four-game road trip against the Vancouver Canucks (8-11-1) tonight.
The 36-year-old centre hasn't played since suffering a lower-body injury on Jan. 21 against the Ottawa Senators and has missed the last 12 games.
"It's one of those things that unfortunately injuries are part of the game," said Thompson. "It's tough watching your team. It's always nice to see the team win, but it's tough at the same time because you want to be part of it.
"I'm real excited to get back in tonight."

Thompson brings a veteran presence to the fourth line with Trevor Lewis and Jansen Harkins, but also adds another penalty killer to the Jets forward group.
The Jets (9-6-1) have been averaging 7:33 penalty minutes per game - the sixth fewest in the NHL - but in Wednesday's 3-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, the Jets were shorthanded six times.
They killed off five of them, but the eventual game-winner came on Edmonton's second to last power play of the game.
That many penalties meant a higher workload for forwards like Andrew Copp, who played a career-high 24:14 on Wednesday with 6:27 coming on the penalty kill (a team high).
Copp, Lewis, Adam Lowry, and Mason Appleton all had over 4:30 of their total ice time devoted to the penalty kill with Lowry and Copp also playing on the power play.
Thompson's addition will perhaps help spread those penalty kill minutes around a bit more, should the Jets get into more penalty trouble on Friday.
"With Pierre-Luc out of the line-up, Copp and Lowry are doing double duty now. They're really the only players that do that," said Maurice referencing the fact they play penalty kill and power play.
"I played Andrew Copp far more than I'd like to last game because there was a high number of both. In the event that we get into a high number of penalties tonight, we have back up there. It's also another face-off man, a guy we can use to take face-offs on the PK which takes some pressure off Copp and Lowry."
With Thompson coming back in, Kristian Vesalainen will not play on Friday, nor will Pierre-Luc Dubois - who will miss his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury.
The Jets line-up is expected to look like this, based on how Friday's game ended:
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Copp-Stastny-Ehlers
Perreault-Lowry-Appleton
Harkins-Thompson-Lewis
Morrissey-Poolman
Forbort-Pionk
Beaulieu-DeMelo
This will be the second meeting of the season between the Jets and Canucks. Vancouver won the only other meeting by a score of 4-1 at Bell MTS Place on Jan. 30.
After that game, the Canucks lost six straight before getting back on track with a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Feb. 13. Vancouver is on a three-game point streak, going 2-0-1 in their last three outings all against the Flames.
A big part of that surge is Brock Boeser, who has two goals and four points in the last two games. His 12 goals this season are second only to Toronto's Auston Matthews, who has 16.
"He's off to an amazing start, an elite shooter and goal scorer," said Josh Morrissey.
"It's much of the same as in games we just played against Leon (Draisaitl) and Connor (McDavid). Time and space, trying to limit room for players with high skill. For him, he's a shooter and plays with some really good players that can find him and make plays.
"Sometimes with those elite shooters you have to be a little extra aware because they don't a whole lot of room, or time, or space to get a shot off and put it in the back of the net."
While the Canucks will try and keep that trend going, the Jets will be looking to extend a point streak of their own.
They are 4-0-1 following a regulation loss this season and will need to be at their best to improve on that mark.
"When we defend well and when we're moving the puck, playing fast, and playing sharp - taking care of those little things - it bodes well for us," said Thompson.
"We have to take care of those things tonight and hopefully it will work out."
Laurent Brossoit gets the start in goal for the Jets. He has a 2-0-0 record against the Canucks in his career, along with a 0.974 save percentage. It was also the Canucks that Brossoit, a British Columbia product, earned his first career shutout against back on Dec. 22, 2018.
In his most recent start on Feb. 2, Brossoit made 29 saves as the Jets beat the Flames 3-2. Thatcher Demko gets the call between the pipes for the Canucks with puck drop set for 9 pm CT.
-- Mitchell Clinton, WinnipegJets.com
Game Notes
The Jets continue a four-game road trip on Friday, which consists of two games against the Edmonton Oilers and two games against the Vancouver Canucks.
Winnipeg has won five games in a row at Rogers Arena in Vancouver and have points in seven of their past nine trips to the lower mainland (6-2-1).
Winnipeg is 4-0-1 in games following a regulation loss this season.
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