GAMEDAY: Jets vs Stars

WINNIPEG -Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness prefers to keep the focus of tonight's match-up on the ice, as opposed to the fact it's his current team squaring off against his former team.
Yes, he did meet up with some old colleagues ahead of tonight's Central Division showdown with the Dallas Stars (8-3-1).
But outside of sharing a few laughs with visiting broadcasters and media after the morning skate, Bowness was all business.
Besides his trademark grin when he was asked about it.
"We're fighting for first place against a very good, divisional team," he said. "That's it."

The Jets (7-3-1) are 5-0-1 in their past six games and are looking to put the cherry on top of a perfect home stand that has already seen them beat Montreal and Chicago.

The 4-0 win over the Blackhawks was an effort the Jets were pleased with, and Jansen Harkins - who made his season debut in that contest - was happy to contribute to a win.
"I was just trying to keep it simple and get my pace up to speed," said Harkins, who had a five-game goal streak and nine points in six games with the Manitoba Moose before his recall.
"You want to play the top teams and show that you can compete," Harkins said. "This is a good test for us here tonight."
In the only other meeting of the season between the two clubs, Dallas handed Winnipeg a 4-1 loss back on October 17 at American Airlines Center.
Bowness' positive COVID-19 test prevented him from making his return to Dallas to coach against his old team, but he'll be behind the bench tonight, and he feels the Jets are a much different team than they were in the second game of the season.
"We've moved on from that game, so it's now about how we're playing right now," Bowness said. "they're an excellent faceoff team and when they lose it, they're jumping really quick. We've got to do a better job of winning faceoffs, controlling it (the puck) and (have) better puck management coming through the neutral zone and putting a lot more pressure on them than we did."
It was an optional skate for both clubs on Tuesday, as both took to the ice at Canada Life Centre for a full practice on Monday.
Six Jets took the option and didn't skate - Adam Lowry, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Connor Hellebuyck, Brenden Dillon, Nate Schmidt, and Sam Gagner - but with Dylan Samberg taking the skate and not staying out for conditioning, it's expected he'll come back into the line-up after not playing against Chicago on Saturday.

Based on Monday's practice, Samberg will be paired with Dylan DeMelo tonight.
"I feel we blend together really well," Samberg said. "We both like to keep it simple, both can get in the rush when need be - as you saw in Montreal that one night, we both hopped up in the rush. It's good. I like playing with him, he's really talkative out there and he's always talking to me when we get back to the bench."
The Jets line-up is expected to look like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Appleton
Perfetti-Dubois-Wheeler
Maenalanen-Lowry-Jonsson-Fjallby
Harkins-Gustafsson-Gagner
Morrissey-Pionk
Dillon-Schmidt
Samberg-DeMelo
As for the Stars, they're coming off a 6-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. Add that to a 7-2 win over Arizona two nights earlier, and the Stars have outscored their opponents 13-4 so far on the road trip, with the finale set for tonight in Winnipeg.

The top line of Jason Robertson, Joe Pavelski, and Roope Hintz has led the way, combining for four goals and 12 points in the past two games.
"Roope is the guy that drives the thing on the rush because of his speed and he pushes you back because of his speed," said Bowness. "Pav and Robo come in and they're so smart, they're so creative, they're so offensive minded. The biggest thing they have is chemistry. They just read off each other very, very well."
Two points separate the two teams, with the Stars holding on to top spot in the Central. The Jets have them in their sights and, even though it's early, these are exactly the type of games that Winnipeg wants to be part of all season.
"We've put ourselves in a position where we can battle them," said Bowness. "So, let's go for it. Let's enjoy it."
Puck drop is set for 7 pm CT.
-- Mitchell Clinton, WinnipegJets.com
Game Notes
The Jets have extended their point streak to a season best six games (5-0-1). It's the third longest team point streak in the NHL this season.
The Jets have moved to sixth overall in the NHL with a 0.682 points percentage. With a record of 7-3-1, it's the fifth time in franchise hits tory the team has seven wins through the first 11 games of the season.
The Jets are a perfect 10-for-10 on the penalty kill in their past four games and 15-for-16 (93.8%) in their past six contests. Winnipeg is sixth win the NHL this season with a penalty kill clicking at 82.8%
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