GAMEDAY: Jets at Panthers

FORT LAUDERDALE – The Winnipeg Jets know exactly what’s coming on Saturday when the puck drops against the Florida Panthers.

They only need to look back at their most recent meeting, just nine days ago, when the two teams fought for every inch of ice before the Jets dropped a 2-1 shootout decision to the Panthers at Canada Life Centre.

Today, the Jets are looking to split the season series, and earn a touch of revenge in the process.

“They’re one of the biggest and highest teams in terms of dumps and forecheck retrievals,” said head coach Scott Arniel. “I thought that game in our building, there was a lot of that top of the circle to the top of the circle, kind of running into each other, not letting each other have a lot of space to work to get on the hunt. It’s going to have to be that way (Saturday).”

The Jets (21-25-7) are coming off a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday and currently have one win and one loss on their four-game road trip. One area that Winnipeg wants to improve heading into Saturday’s game is decisions in the neutral zone. They had success in that area in the opening period against the Lightning, but were left frustrated after that, especially when trying to rally back in the third period.

“You just have to take a peek at where their D are gapped up, how much space is in front of you, and if it’s worth trying to make a play – if the player is there – but you don’t want to force it,” said Cole Koepke. “They did a good job of holding the blue line. They had three guys stacked there and at times there was opportunities to make plays, but at times they had a good gap and we were trying to force it through. We can all agree we can do a better job of putting it behind them and try to go to work that way.”

Friday’s 35-minute skate was the opportunity to address some of those areas and also served as the pre-game skate, as the 3 pm CT puck drop at Amerant Bank Arena prevents a standard morning skate from occurring.

Arniel made a couple tweaks to the lines in practice, which could offer a glimpse into what Winnipeg’s line-up could look like against Florida.

As for the Panthers (28-22-3), they’ve been a bit hot and cold as of late. Their victory over the Jets on January 22 started a three-game road trip that saw Florida pick up wins in Minnesota and Chicago as well, earning them six of six possible points. That was important for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, who have dealt with injuries since the training camp knee injury of captain Aleksander Barkov.

After that perfect road trip, Florida dropped two one-goal decisions in regulation to Utah and – most recently – the St. Louis Blues, putting them outside of the playoff line in the Eastern Conference.

Despite that, Natural Stat Trick still has Florida as a top-10 team when it comes to shot attempt differential at five-on-five, and just outside the top-10 in expected goals and high-danger chance differential.

Even if the Panthers aren’t scoring at the rate they have in the previous two seasons, the Jets know they’ll have to be at their best.

A conversation topic from the first meeting was Florida’s consistent pressure and the use of the high flip to exit the zone, forcing Winnipeg’s defence to make a play on a (frequently) bouncing puck with Panthers forwards barrelling down on them.

“It can be hard to read sometimes. You don’t know how the puck is going to bounce,” said Elias Salomonsson, who had a career high 19:40 and six shots on goal against Tampa Bay.

“They don’t give up much,” he said of the Panthers. “We had to work hard for our chances and play good defensively against them. They’re good on the forecheck. Handling that is a key for us.”

Should Winnipeg handle those pucks well and spend quality time in the offensive zone, they’ll still have to find a way to manufacture offence under pressure. The Jets have done well in terms of moving the puck out of the corner up high to their defencemen, but Arniel would like to see a bit more action in front of the opposing net – similar to what led to Kyle Connor’s goal against Tampa Bay.

That action starts with the defencemen and the forwards can play off that.

“We’ve done a lot of video talking about it. The D can’t be getting the puck and standing still and throwing it back to the corner or trying to throw a wrister,” said Arniel. “The strong side one-timer is a good shot if we have traffic – which we did a few times (Thursday) – the other thing is getting centered and getting off, getting moving, maybe it’s diving down in.

“It buys time for our forwards to get out of the swarm and be part of that.”

Puck drop is set for 3 pm CT.

ICE CHIPS

Neal Pionk, who has missed the last eight games with a lower-body injury, skated in a non-contact jersey on Friday.

He’s participated in a couple morning skates, specifically in New Jersey and Tampa Bay, in a regular jersey but the nature of Friday’s full practice warranted the bright yellow non-contact jersey for the 30-year-old.

Pionk has two goals and eight points in 40 games this season.