GAMEDAY: Jets at Devils

NEWARK – Two motivated clubs will face-off tonight at Prudential Center, and that motivation doesn’t only come from the fact that the Winnipeg Jets and New Jersey Devils are both trying to climb the standings in their respective conferences.

They’re also searching for a response after performances they didn’t like one bit.

For Winnipeg (20-24-27), they saw a 1-1 tie through two periods finish as a 5-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, the finale of a three-game home stand.

“We were circling, if we had odd-man rushes or opportunities, we were taking the long way around to the net,” said head coach Scott Arniel following Monday’s practice. “The Florida game, we got inside, St. Louis we got there, we won our battles. And that’s a big thing for me. It’s those net front battles, really, it’s the willingness to do those hard things.”

The Devils (27-23-2) won the first three games of a Western Conference road trip in Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver before falling 4-2 to Seattle on Sunday. New Jersey even opened the scoring (similar to Winnipeg against Detroit) but fell behind and couldn’t rally to tie things up.

“We have lost the luxury or the ability to be content with anything that’s happened in the past, we’ve got to stay in the present and not leave any points on the table,” said Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe in Seattle. “As much as we had good results and feel good about the trip, we’ve got to go back home and we’ve got to play better. We’ve got to build on our game and get to another level.”

So that sets the stage for these two teams, who will close out their two-game season series on Tuesday. Winnipeg won the first of those two games, 4-3, back on January 11 at Canada Life Centre. The key to that victory was everything Arniel wanted from his team against Detroit.

All four of Winnipeg’s goals against New Jersey – off the sticks of Alex Iafallo, Jonathan Toews, Gabriel Vilardi, and Tanner Pearson – came from turning the rush opportunities they earned into sustained offence, finished off with successful net front battle.

A similar effort will get this four-game road trip started off the right way for the Jets.

“The thing with hockey, it's a team game. We do it all together,” said Connor Hellebuyck, who played in his 600^th career game on Saturday. “We get out of the streak together. When we build winning streaks together, and no one man is going to steal the show. Once the team starts succeeding, then those individuals will start succeeding.”

Prior to flying to Newark, the Jets held a 35-minute skate in downtown Winnipeg and while the morning skate will be the best indication of Tuesday’s line-up, the line rushes in practice looked like this:

Winnipeg has five games before the Olympic break. Four of those will come on this trip. After New Jersey, the Jets take a quick tour through Florida with match-ups against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers before wrapping things up in Dallas against the Stars.

“We want to take it a one game at a time,” said Cole Koepke. “There's a few of us teams that are within a couple points. So there's opportunities to catch teams, whether it be tie them or close the gap or pass them with each game. So then that's what we need to kind of look at when we go into each individual game.”

It can be easy to look ahead, but the Jets won’t be doing that. Instead, they’ll stick to routine – video review of the previous game, then get to work on being ready for the next one on the schedule.

“We showed some positives and things that we did well throughout (the Detroit game), that we’re going to have to do going into Jersey,” said Arniel. “We play five games before the break and we won’t play again until almost March. It’s crazy. But then March is extremely crazy, on the sense of the schedule and how many games we got to play.

“Now we got to focus on the next one, not Tampa, not Florida, not Dallas, not Montreal, let’s focus on the Devils.”

Puck drop is set for 6 pm CT.

ICE CHIPS

Defenceman Isaak Phillips was recalled from the Manitoba Moose on Monday. Phillips played two games for the Jets’ American Hockey League affiliate over the weekend, picking up two assists against the league-best Grand Rapids Griffins.

The 24-year-old has 58 NHL games on his resume, with two coming in Jets colours.

The recall was necessary, as the Jets only have six healthy defencemen with Neal Pionk, Colin Miller, and Haydn Fleury still on the injured list.

“I think (Pionk) might be coming on the trip, but I'm not sure if that's, him and Millsy, maybe, for medical, continuing to get the treatment,” said Arniel. “But I don't see anybody coming before the break.”