Jets looking forward to tilt with surging Kings on Saturday

WINNIPEG - Winter has arrived in Winnipeg, just in time for a Western Conference clash between the Winnipeg Jets and the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night at Canada Life Centre.
"Saturday night in Winnipeg, blizzard conditions, there is nothing better, man," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said with a grin. "It's exciting coming to the rink. It's another one to get excited for tomorrow night."
As the Manitoba capital was getting bombarded with its first big snowfall of the season, the Jets were putting the finishing touches on a 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks.
The victory moved the Jets to 5-1-1 on home ice, and the group now has points in 10 of their last 11 games.
However, the Kings also played on Thursday, earning a 2-0 win over the Ottawa Senators to post their seventh consecutive victory, setting the stage for a tilt between two of the hottest clubs in the NHL.

In fact, the last team to beat Los Angeles was the Jets back at Staples Center on October 28.
"I didn't play when we were in L.A. but it was a really close game and it could have gone either way," said Wheeler. "We're obviously familiar with some of their guys that have been around for a while and guys that have Stanley Cup pedigrees. There is a ton of respect for what that team is capable of."
To prepare for that match-up, the Jets hit the ice for a 35-minute skate on Friday, with head coach Paul Maurice keeping the same lines as the group that finished so strongly in Thursday's win.

Maurice felt his team got stronger as the game went on, and was happy with the team's play from the second half of the game on. During that stretch, the Jets outscored the Sharks 3-0.
The line rushes looked like this:
Connor-Dubois-Svechnikov
Ehlers-Scheifele-Wheeler
Copp-Lowry-Harkins
Toninato-Nash-Vesalainen
Morrissey-Schmidt
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-DeMelo
Samberg-Beaulieu
The only Jet that didn't skate was Paul Stastny, who has missed each of the last two games after taking a shot off the foot in the loss to the New York Islanders.
"We're just waiting for this thing to get to the point that he feels good enough to put it in a boot and go skate," said Maurice. "There's no injury there, that's just healing. And I can't tell you how he's going to feel tomorrow so I don't know when he's going to be ready."
The adjustments Maurice made in-game against San Jose were based on trying to free up certain match-ups - a direct benefit of having a forward group as deep as the Jets do.
"I thought we needed to get a little bit more on the forecheck and a little bit more physicality in our game," said Maurice. "Mark's kind of coming off an injury, so I just thought I would put that line of Harkins, Copp and Lowry together at the time and then we could get a little more bump in their game."
That trio combined for a big goal with 44 seconds left in the second period to provide a valuable insurance marker, and it's only a matter of time before the offence comes for Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, and Nikolaj Ehlers as well.
Since the start of the 2017-18 season, Ehlers, Scheifele, and Wheeler have played over 600 minutes at five-on-five together, holding nearly 53 percent of the shot attempts in that span. While the high-danger chances go slightly toward the opponent during that stretch (116-109), that particular group of forwards has outscored their opposition 36-26 (according to Natural Stat Trick).
Wheeler has no doubt they can find that type of chemistry and success again.
"I think Nikolaj Ehlers is one of the most talented offensive players in the league, so anytime you get a chance to play with a guy like that - you're certainly excited," Wheeler said. "Mark and I, we've prided ourselves on playing a certain way. There is a heaviness involved to that. There is a lot of hard work involved in that. We take a lot of pride in that game. With that, the production has come.
"That's where we're at right now. We feel good about 98 percent of our game. Unfortunately, the other two percent of the game is where we get judged, which is fair, that's part of our job."
Wheeler pointed to the numerous chances he's had, let alone the ones Scheifele and Ehlers have had as well.

Any player that produces at a high level - and all three of those players fit that category - will say that as long as they're getting the chances, they'll go in eventually.
"I rely on the 14 years of being productive in this league and bring a lot of excitement about the fact that we've got a good team and we're playing well," said Wheeler, who earlier on the home stand became the first player in franchise history to reach 700 points.
"It gets magnified when there's a zero attached to the stat line, which will get taken care of in short order."
But first, a good night sleep before playing the surging Kings.
"I didn't know they'd won seven straight," Wheeler said. "I have to get to bed early tonight."