Jets aim for continuous improvement through final home stand

WINNIPEG - With a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs secured - and a season-long winless skid behind them - the Winnipeg Jets focus now shifts to using the final four-game home stand to get their game to an ideal spot for when the playoffs begin.
Friday's practice at Bell MTS Place was the first chance to do just that.
"One of the benefits of this slide is it made us focus on one or two things, not trying to get all parts and you get distracted," said head coach Paul Maurice. "We still have work to do here. It's about cementing it. Going out there with one or two ideas that we want to be our prime focus, and make sure we're good."
The main point of focus, especially since the 6-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers back on April 26, has been the team's play at five-on-five.
It's not always just defending the rush at even strength, but also the decisions the team makes with the puck that play a big role in how the team plays.

Maurice felt the Jets got progressively better at that over the past four games, culminating with Wednesday's 4-0 victory over the Calgary Flames.
Since April 28 (the game after the 6-1 loss), the Jets have outscored their opposition 6-3 at five-on-five. The three goals against are tied for the fewest in the NHL in that span.
"We're not really worried about opponents necessarily, especially right now. We're worried about our game when we are practising out there for the most part," said Andrew Copp. "Today, we're just trying to get better on a few things, sharpen up. Get skating, get the blood pumping, get the plane off of you a little bit and then move forward to tomorrow."
Another focus over the next week to 10 days will be ensuring the team is as healthy as possible.

Being at home for the next four games will help with that, and the first example came in Friday's practice, as defenceman Neal Pionk was kept off the ice for maintenance reasons.
"If he's in the line-up, he's at 100 percent. If he's out, he'll be at 98," said Maurice. "I wanted him off the ice today. He was more inclined to skate. I tried to convince him that getting him from 98 to 100 right now would be a good idea."
With Pionk off the ice, the Jets line rushes looked like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Stastny-Dubois-Perreault
Copp-Lowry-Appleton
Harkins-Thompson-Lewis
Morrissey-DeMelo
Forbort-Poolman
Heinola-Benn
Stanley-Niku
Heinola played 13:50 in Wednesday's win over Calgary, his third game in a Jets jersey this season.
"It was nice to be back going, get to playing. I think it was a good start for me," Heinola said. " I feel way better on the ice, to be honest. The biggest thing is I can trust more my body. I know I can handle those guys. I know I can handle the speed. It kind of gives me confidence when I know I can handle those things."
Maurice was impressed with what he saw from the 20-year-old, and expects to get him into another game.
"We'll move him around with different people a little bit. I liked his game," said Maurice. "He's going to go back in. We want to get all those guys enough games that we're comfortable with any of them playing."
Even in the three games Heinola has played, Copp has seen improvements in the defenceman's play - even just compared to the eight NHL games Heinola played in 2019-20.
"He's probably just more assertive. There were a couple of times in the game (against Calgary) that you noticed that," said Copp. "He is putting himself in good spots with his body position, where he was going up against a bigger player and he wasn't allowing him to the front of the net and he wasn't shying away by any means, because his gap is right, his angles are great and he kind of knows how to figure out when a guy is on his back and what-not."
Saturday's game against the Ottawa Senators begins the final home stand of the regular season and closes out the season series between the two clubs.
Ottawa is 7-1-1 in their last nine games, a stretch that includes a 2-1 win over Winnipeg.

That game saw the Jets hold the edge in nearly every statistical category except the final score.
It was also the last game of the skid.
Winnipeg will be a confident group as they look to end the nine-game season series against Ottawa with a victory, with their sights set on something far greater.
"The last three games we've played, there are big parts of our game that are right. We're a lot stronger five-on-five defensively, and that's where the whole thing starts from," said Maurice. "We like the direction we're headed now. The goal is not to get back to where we were, it's to be better than we were."
ICE CHIPS
Paul Maurice provided a quick update on forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who hasn't played since April 24.
Following that game, Ehlers - who is second on the Jets in goals (21) and points (46) - was ruled out for the rest of the regular season.
"Nikolaj is going well. I think he may even step back on the ice tomorrow non-contact and not shooting pucks," Maurice said on Friday. "But he'll get back skating."