LAS VEGAS - The Winnipeg Jets open a three-game road trip tonight when they take on the Vegas Golden Knights for the second time this season.
The Jets (4-3-2) are trying to even up the season series after the Golden Knights earned a 5-3 win at Canada Life Centre back in October.
They also admit there is a bit of motivation in trying to be the team that gives Vegas (9-0-1) their first regulation loss.
"I think this is how you measure your team and measure where you’re at," said Brenden Dillon. "We’re only nine games into the season, but what a challenge to go up against the best team in the league right now. We saw them a couple games ago and they’re the standard right now."
That game, which was played back on October 19, saw the Jets tied with the Golden Knights with a little over eight minutes to go in the final period. Unfortunately, a Jack Eichel power play goal with 4:32 remaining proved to be the difference.
It's a similar storyline to Winnipeg's last two games, where the opposition scored a key power play goal to either turn momentum (as Montreal did on Saturday) or tie the game up (like the Rangers did on Monday).
"Our special teams is something that is really struggling right now - both sides of it, power play and penalty kill. It’s not like us," said Dillon, referencing the fact the Jets rank 28th in the National Hockey League in both the power play and the penalty kill.
"Collectively we have to take a lot of pride in it," said Dillon. "When we get a power play, whether it’s a minute left in the game or 10 minutes in the third period, that’s a big momentum swing. On the flip side of that, when we get a penalty kill, a bad bounce, a crappy call, we have to put that stuff behind us and really bear down and get that done. Those are some valuable points and things we can focus on to really round out our 60 minute effort."
GETTING PUCKS THROUGH
One of the big challenges the Jets face against Vegas is getting pucks through to Logan Thompson, who is expected to start in goal for the Golden Knights.
Vegas has 173 blocked shots this season, the fourth most in the NHL, and that's partly due to pressure at the point and the mindset of the defencemen parked in front.
"Vegas attacks our D high with their forwards, kind of like what the Rangers were doing the other night," said associate coach Scott Arniel. "
"The biggest thing is their defencemen aren’t going to be boxing out. They’re going to be trying to get their bodies in front of it. We looked at it last year for the playoffs, sometimes short side off the end wall creates a scramble just like a shot would.
"Some different areas we’re looking at in the sense of instead of having two guys stacked in front of the net, maybe we have one that drops off and becomes an outlet. We did that against the Rangers the other night and, especially in the second period, we had some really good looks off it."
LINE RUSHES
No changes are expected to the Jets line-up, with Connor Hellebuyck getting his eighth start of the season.
Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-Gustafsson
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt
VILARDI UPDATE
Gabriel Vilardi, who hasn't played since he suffered a sprained MCL against the Los Angeles Kings in the third game of the season, has joined the Jets on the three-game road trip.
However, Arniel said it would be premature to expect the forward - just over two weeks into a four-to-six week recovery timeline - to skate before the end of the road trip.
"We had a function here that he wanted to be part of," said Arniel. "He’s just back training, so he can be part of our strength group. He can do stuff that maybe he couldn’t do by himself at home."
-- Mitchell Clinton, WinnipegJets.com
