Jets expect strong push from Vegas in Game Two

One day after getting 75 stitches, Winnipeg Jets forward Morgan Barron was one of three skaters not to practice with the team on Wednesday.
That list included Kevin Stenlund and Neal Pionk, who missed the 40-minute skate for maintenance, but head coach Rick Bowness said Barron's situation fell into the category of a "well deserved day off."
In fact, Bowness' takeaway from his short conversation with Barron was that the 24-year-old is in great spirits.
"There wasn't nearly the swelling we thought there would be. Give credit to our medical staff for taking care of that," Bowness said. "The colour is going to start coming out now, the rainbow around the eye. But man, give him nothing but credit for coming back and playing, and not even hesitant to get back on the ice and take a run at somebody in the corner."

Naturally, his teammates are being incredibly supportive, and now that they know he's safe - and healthy - they certainly wouldn't poke fun at him.

Enter Brenden Dillon, who - with a smirk - suggested any sort of modelling side gigs Barron was interested in might have to wait.
"His modelling days, I think, are over," he grinned. "Might have to move to hand-model or foot-model from the Hugo Boss stuff he was doing earlier."
All three players who didn't skate on Wednesday are expected to play in Game Two on Thursday, a game the Jets know will be even more difficult than the opening game of the series.
"We know they're going to be a lot better," said Nino Niederreiter. "The goals we scored, most of them they gave us. So, we know we expect a better Vegas, but we also know we've got better as well. So can't be satisfied with the win we had last night. We've got to be better and take game-by-game."

Throughout the regular season, Vegas averaged over 31 shots on goal per-game, which makes the fact that Winnipeg limited the Golden Knights to just 17 in Game One jump off the page.
"We managed the puck really well," said Josh Morrissey. "We committed to coming back hard as a group of five. Our breakouts were pretty good and we ended plays pretty fast in our own end. We didn't give them a ton of zone time. We played well and we did a lot of good things."
Adjustments are to be expected, though. That's the nature of a best-of-seven series. The trick is trying to anticipate what those adjustments might be, while the Jets still stay true to what gave them the victory in Game One.
"It's one game, it's one win, and we know it's only going to get harder as we go along here," said Morrissey. "We know they're going t come back with a big push tomorrow and certainly have a lot of respect for the type of team they have over there. We're going to have to be even better at the things we did well in Game One."

Nikolaj Ehlers - who didn't play in Game One - was on the ice for practice but remains day-to-day according to Bowness.
The full line rushes (without Barron, Stenlund, or Pionk) looked like this:
Connor-Dubois-Scheifele
Niederreiter-Namestnikov-Wheeler
Ehlers-Lowry-Appleton
Kuhlman-Gustafsson-Maenalanen
Perfetti (non-contact)
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Jonsson-Fjallby
Samberg-Schmidt
Stanley-Capobianco
It was Niederreiter who was bumped up to Ehlers' spot on the left wing with Vladislav Namestnikov and Blake Wheeler in Game One. That trio was on the ice for the insurance marker, a backhand off the stick of Wheeler.

Niederreiter assisted on that goal, as well as Adam Lowry's late power play goal, but still feels his line can find another level.
"We know we can be more aggressive, we can hold onto pucks more often down low and don't be one-and-done," Niederreiter said. "I think that's something we definitely can take into Game Two."
Right now, the Jets have momentum. It's not something they can just anticipate will be there when the puck drops on Thursday though.
The 87 goals Vegas scored in the first period this season were the second most in the National Hockey League behind only Edmonton's 91. The Jets were able to establish their game early in Game One, with Connor Hellebuyck making some big saves when it was needed.

It was a total team effort to earn the win - and that momentum - in Game One.
Now they have to do it all over again.
"Momentum is so key because it happens shift to shift, period to period," said Dillon. "We just want to play the same game, do the same thing we did for 60 minutes. That's the blueprint for us. We came in here wanting to play well and hopefully the process would take care of itself. We saw how it worked in Game One, and we have to expect their best in Game Two."