The "real tough game" Maurice referred to almost needs no introduction.
Saturday's 7-1 loss to Montreal certainly seems to be an outlier on the schedule. In fact, more often than not, the Jets are on the other side of that ledger. Six of their 15 wins have come by three goals or more, with another seven coming by one goal.
In terms of the eight regulation losses, four have come by just a single goal.
So, perhaps that loss was out of character. The Jets certainly feel that way. So, Monday's practice was more about putting that loss in the rearview mirror and focusing on the positives heading into Tuesday's game.
One of those positives is the team's record following a regulation loss this season. It's 6-0-1, but that didn't come easily. It's a product of turning the page and bringing their best in the next outing and playing the game that needs to be played.
Against the Maple Leafs, the run-and-gun style with chances at both ends must be avoided.
"They're fun to play against, but you just have to be careful," said Paul Stastny. "There are some guys on our team and their team probably too that want to play that run and gun style and trade chance for chance, but I think that's a dangerous game to play.
"At the same time, there is going to be chances given up both ways and that's just the matter of when you're playing highly-skilled guys and playing with smart, two-way players that can create turnovers, that's going to happen."
The Jets were on the ice for about an hour and Maurice said he doesn't plan to make any changes to the line-up after Saturday's tough loss.
He felt everyone had a part in it - which means everyone has a part to play in getting out of it.
"I don't know that I've ever seen a game where every player was minus," said Maurice. "We've got something to prove, that that wasn't our game. So it is a different dynamic. We had a good, sharp practice here today. Not casual by any means, and certainly not arrogant by any means."
The Maple Leafs will also be a motivated squad on Tuesday.
The last time they had a three-game set against the second-place team in the North Division was, well, just last week.
The Maple Leafs swept the Edmonton Oilers - who held second spot in the North until Winnipeg's recent surge - and outscored them by a 13-1 margin.
However, they followed that up with consecutive losses to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday and Saturday.
"They've lost a couple (games), but they've had a great start to the year and we know it's going to be a tough test for us and we're looking forward to that," said Adam Lowry, who recalls the only other meeting between the two teams from back in January, a 3-1 Jets loss in the second game of the season.
"I think looking back to that first game, we didn't play very good that night. I think we're a lot better team than kind of what we showed," Lowry said. "We're getting a lot closer to the identity and the way we want to play - that's big, that's fast and kind of imposing our will and that's from controlling the puck and playing with pace. That's going to be something we try and do."
Maurice expects the same from his group.
"You never say it's a good thing, but we know our opponent is very strong tomorrow, so we're going to have that edge coming to the rink," Maurice said. "We've got to get rid of that last game, and they know they can do that by improving our play in the next game. So I think we'll have a pretty darn focused group tomorrow."
