"That team is a perfect example of having four lines, six defencemen, and they all play the same way. You know what you're getting out of every single guy," Stastny said. "They're all skating as a unit of five. When we're playing our best, that's what we're doing. It's a matter of sticking to it and being consistent with it no matter who you're playing against."
Another source of frustration for the Jets, who finished 2-2-0 on the four-game home stand, was their inability to take advantage of a five-minute power play in the third period when they trailed Carolina 4-2.
Nate Schmidt, who played a team-high 25:12, knows the group has scored five times on the man advantage in the last three games. But he knows there are adjustments the group needs to make against aggressive penalty kill units like the Hurricanes.
"They did a good job pressuring us and making it uncomfortable, we have to understand that's going to be the type of brand they play, the style they play," Schmidt said. "We have to understand where our next play has to be. We wanted to slow it down - just like the rest of the game - that's not the way we can play, and that's not how our power play can play."
Carolina scored twice on the power play to turn a 2-2 game into a 4-2 game, meaning the Jets have given up at least one power play goal in each of the last three games.
Winnipeg's penalty kill is ranked 31st in the NHL, and has been an ongoing project after a lot of turnover in the off season.
Both of Carolina's power play goals came because of net front scrambles. Unfortunately for Stastny, one of those scrambles resulted because his stick broke off the face-off.
"I think when we're doing well, we're in sync - all four guys on the ice. When just one of us is out of sync - whether one guy is more aggressive, or one guy is a little on his heels - you get caught chasing the puck or watching the other guy do something," Stastny said of the penalty kill. "For us it's a matter of all of us getting on the same page. When there is a breakdown, we have to find a way to minimize the Grade A chances."
The Jets stayed with the same line rushes during Wednesday's practice as were used in Tuesday's game.
Logan Stanley had one period playing on his off side against the Hurricanes, but Maurice moved him back to the left side with Brenden Dillon for the final 40 minutes of action.
The line rushes looked like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Copp-Dubois-Ehlers
Stastny-Lowry-Vesalainen
Harkins-Toninato-Svechnikov
Morrissey-Schmidt
Stanley-Dillon
Beaulieu-DeMelo
Neal Pionk missed practice as he remains in concussion protocol and won't travel with the Jets on the two-game road trip that begins on Thursday against the Seattle Kraken (9-14-2).
Seattle is 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, and based on the stats the Jets look at, everything they struggled with against Carolina will be tested again against the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena.
"I've never been to Seattle before," said Maurice. "The interesting part of that, in some of their analytics, they play exactly the same way Carolina does. It's going to be an important redemption game for us."
ICE CHIPS
Just prior to the team taking off to Seattle, the Jets announced that they had recalled defenceman Ville Heinola from the Manitoba Moose.
The 20-year-old Heinola has two goals and 14 points in 18 games with the Moose this season.
