GAMEDAY: Jets at Oilers

EDMONTON – The Winnipeg Jets are hoping that they can take another step closer to consistency when they face the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Saturday night (Sportsnet, 680 CJOB/Power 97).

Winnipeg played a solid game on Friday beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 to move into the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Cole Koepke and Tanner Pearson scored two big goals in the second period as the Jets got some much-needed secondary scoring. Koepke said that the other three forward lines have been feeling some pressure to produce.

“We’re not necessarily trying to think about it,” said Koepke on Friday night.

“But especially for us, as our line, I think we’re just trying to go out there, play as a group of three, wear the other team down, make sure we’re sound in our own end and create offence that way. I think just kind of doing that worked really well for us.”

The Jets also got goals from Kyle Connor who now sits one goal away from 300 and Gabriel Vilardi had an empty netter as well. Connor moved past Ilya Kovalchuk into third place on the franchise scoring list with point 615 and 616. Connor is on a four-game goal streak and Mark Scheifele had an assist on Vilardi’s empty net goal, his point streak is at six games.

The Jets gave up 15 shots in the first period but defended better over the final 40 minutes allowing 20 shots through periods two and three.

“That’s the way it needs to be, right? When you get into one and two-goal games, you have to lock it down and not give up many chances,” said Pearson.

“We did a good job of that.”

Jets head coach Scott Arniel liked how his team clogged up the neutral zone a lot better than they did against the Sabres in Buffalo in a 5-1 loss back on Monday.

"Yeah, we were talking lots about you go out as five. It's staying connected. It's not having forwards stretched out at one end of the ice and the D back in the neutral zone,” said Arniel.

“I thought we did a really good job as.... Breakouts, our D were in the rush. They were a part of the rush. They were working up. And then as we talked about, our forwards pouring back and making sure that it was five guys pretty close together.”

Make sure to watch the pregame show “The Check In” with Sara Orlesky and Jamie Thomas at 12:30 CT.

Winnipeg flew into Edmonton right after the Sabres game for their fourth game of the week and in a back-to-back situation. The team had just got back from a five-game road trip, played at home and are on the road for one more before a four-game homestand.

“It’s kind of the way this year has been. We’re all in the same boat, everyone is going through it. You can’t really complain,” said Pearson.

“We were joking that the road trip is still going, type of thing. That’s the way you’ve got to look at it. Go to Edmonton and get the job done.”

Winnipeg will not have a morning skate, so the line combinations are unknown at this time. It is expected that Thomas Milic will get the start in goal, his second start of his NHL career.

Puck drop is scheduled for 9 CT.