Jets excited to get back to game action in Washington

WINNIPEG - With the amount that the Winnipeg Jets have practiced the last two weeks, they were looking for anything to spice up another skate on Monday.
Sure, they knew they'd be hopping on a plane to start a four-game road trip later in the day, but there was still the 30-minute skate at Canada Life Centre to get through.
Enter Blake Wheeler.
The Jets captain, injured back on December 10 in a shootout loss the Vancouver Canucks, made his return to practice in a non-contact jersey today.
"There's a lot of reasons today to be happy, even if it's a Monday," said Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois.
Can't disagree there.

As for a timeline for Wheeler's return, that's a bit up in the air, according to interim head coach Dave Lowry.
"It's a positive that he's on the ice and it's a positive he's with the group. Whether or not he's an option, we'll see how the week progresses," said Lowry. "That will be up to Blake and the medical staff."
The night of Wheeler's injury, he had three points - including his first goal of the season - as part of a five-game point streak with a total of 10 points.

He did what he could to stay involved with the Jets, even amongst the postponed games and extra practice time.
"You're never going to replace your captain. But what you do is you challenge your other leaders," said Lowry. "They have to pick up the slack that's missing. And I think our guys have done a real good job. And obviously they've been in contact with Blake as I have."
With no Evgeny Svechnikov (day-to-day, lower body) or Paul Stastny on the ice for Monday's skate, Wheeler lined up on the right wing with Kristian Vesalainen and Dominic Toninato.
The full line rushes looked like this:
Copp-Scheifele-Ehlers
Connor-Dubois-Perfetti
Harkins-Lowry-Reichel
Vesalainen-Toninato-Wheeler
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Schmidt
Heinola-Beaulieu
The four-game road trip the Jets are set to begin will test all the practice they've been able to get in.
It begins on Tuesday in Washington against the Capitals, who are third in the Metropolitan Division, and the very team that Winnipeg faced one month ago in Lowry's first game as interim head coach.
"I would not have known it was a month. It has gone extremely quick," said Lowry. "as a coach coming in and taking over, there are benefits to that. And we've been able to grow as a group. I think they have an understanding how I do things."

The other stops on the trip have the Jets in Nashville (tied for top spot in the Central), Boston (who are 8-2-0 in their last 10), and Pittsburgh - also 8-2-0 in their last 10.
"It's a chance to see where we're at and we need to get some wins here. So it's a big trip for us," said Josh Morrissey. "I think everyone's just excited to get into a normal schedule and play against some of the best teams in the league."
Winnipeg has played just once in the last 11 days, which was the 3-0 win over Detroit four days ago.
It's impossible to replicate game pace and intensity in practice, but the Jets have tried their best. They've even started playing 3-on-3 games at the end of each skate.
The group started out small, but now the majority of the players take part.
"It's a great game to obviously have to make little plays in small areas and think on your feet with players coming at you either offensively or defensively," said Morrissey. "I play a lot of it in the summer time and it is kind of fun to be competitive with the other guys and have something on the line and I think it helps us stay sharp a little bit and it's been a good opportunity to be able to do that with the extra rest we've had for sure."
It's hopeful that the last four days has been the last run of practice the Jets will see this season - at least, a run of numerous days of practice with no games.
It was beneficial to a point, but now it's time to get back to the regular intensity of the NHL schedule.
"Practicing is great but playing the game is what we all love," said Dubois. "To be able to get back on the road and have a normal schedule, like JMo said, is going to be really fun for us."
Especially when your schedule revolves around game days.
"Honestly, I don't even know what day of the week it is like 90 per cent of the time. For me, it's just, is it a game day? Is it not? Do we have an off day? Stuff like that," said Dubois. "So, I didn't even know it's Monday today. But there's a lot of things to look forward to."