Jets prepared for 'patient' and 'grinding' series against Canadiens

WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Jets finally know their opponent for the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But even if they're going from the high-octane offence of the Edmonton Oilers to the more grinding and physical 200-foot game of the Montreal Canadiens, head coach Paul Maurice doesn't expect much to change in his club.
"Our two teams have different styles, but both teams have the same mindset: we'll give nothing easily," Maurice said.
"They didn't feed into Toronto. We didn't feed into Edmonton. They just come out and played their butts off, and got a similar result."
With Game 1 between the Jets and Canadiens set for tomorrow night at Bell MTS Place, the Canadiens will be less than 48 hours removed from a Game 7 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Meanwhile, the Jets haven't played since the triple overtime win in Game 4 over the Edmonton Oilers on May 24.
It reminds Jets captain Blake Wheeler of 2018.

That year, the Jets earned a win in Game 7 in Nashville against the Predators, then spent the next day flying back to Winnipeg to host the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final the next day.
"We were flying high in Game 1 against Vegas," said Wheeler.

The Golden Knights went on to win the series in five games, so in that case, their rest won out over Winnipeg's momentum.
"There's really no template for it. It's one of those things that you see how it goes. I'm anticipating this to be a patient series," said Wheeler. "With a series like that, there's not going to be that game where one team dominates the other. It's going to be a lot of back and forth, a lot of grinding, and forcing our wills upon each other."
And then, there are the men between the pipes.
Connor Hellebuyck, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, said after Monday's practice that he doesn't know two-time Vezina winner Carey Price very well - outside of asking him for a stick at an All-Star Game in 2018.
"It'll be an exciting matchup," said Hellebuyck, who was back practicing with the full Jets group after a one-on-one session with goaltending coach Wade Flaherty on Saturday.
This is the second time Hellebuyck has made it to the second round of the postseason, and he's not taking it lightly.
"Every game and every second counts," Hellebuyck said, looking back on 2018. "For me, looking back then, I was really disappointed in how it finished. Going into this now, I know how bad it feels to lose. I'm definitely going to give it my all and leave it all out there."
Hellebuyck had a sparkling 0.950 save percentage in the first round against Edmonton, and also added his third career playoff shutout in Game 2.
From the time the Canadiens trailed their series against the Maple Leafs 3-1, Price stopped 103 of 109 shots for a 0.945 save percentage.
"Two of the best in the game," said Wheeler. "Carey Price is probably the top goalie of my generation. He's shown the ability to steal big games, steal big moments, had a big part in their last series, too.
"We think very highly of Helly and the accomplishments he's had in the couple years in the league. So I think the overriding theme is that we've just got to be patient, allow our goalie to do his thing and understand that we're going in against a team that's going to do the same thing against their goalie."
Hellebuyck was his usual competitive self in Tuesday's 30-minute Jets practice.

While his teammates primarily used the short skate to get their speed back up to the level they expect from themselves, he was doing everything he could to keep pucks out of the net - even on clean 2-on-1 rushes against.
That's not uncommon, says Josh Morrissey.
"Helly is a very intense guy. He finds intensity in all different ways," said Morrissey. "I know that Helly has a singular goal and that's to try and win, and win hockey games. I expect that, obviously being that it's Carey Price with his resume or somebody else, he's going to try and bring his best game and do so to try and help us win."
Hellebuyck helped the Jets win 24 of their 30 games in the regular season.
Six of Winnipeg's 30 victories came against the Canadiens in the regular season, as they won the season series 6-3.
But the first round of the playoffs showed that those regular season series don't mean much.
"I think, overall, both teams have sort of peaked at the right time," said Morrissey. "It's going to be a tough defensive series. Just like Wheels said, a patient series with great goaltending. To simply answer your question, the regular season is out the window."
ICE CHIPS
Paul Stastny didn't participate in Tuesday's practice at Bell MTS Place.
"I think at 35 you get a standard running option," said Paul Maurice. "Six days of practice, I think he's got 1,000 games. That puts him at about 2,500 practices. So he's got the option."