Morning Skate Report: Jets at Rangers

NEW YORK -Morgan Barron is back in New York, about to face the organization he spent the better part of five years with as the Winnipeg Jets prepare to close the season series with the New York Rangers tonight.
Barron was a key piece of the March 21 trade that also involved Andrew Copp - who played 467 games in a Jets jersey - going to New York.
Now, for the first time since that trade, the two teams will face off at Madison Square Garden.
"When I reported to the Moose I kind of circled a few games on my calendar where I hoped I could get up with the Jets and be able to play a few games," said Barron. "This is definitely one of them. I'm excited to be back here and playing against them."

He made a lot of memories with the Rangers. He scored his first NHL goal, on home ice, on May 5 against the Washington Capitals.
He played his first NHL game on May 1 against the New York Islanders.
The 23-year-old's first 18 career games would be in Rangers colours, but they came sporadically. He didn't have as much of a chance to get into a routine.
He's embracing that opportunity now.
"I certainly think there were opportunities when I did get in the lineup in New York. Some people would say I didn't take advantage of it," Barron said. "I just wanted to go and continue to see I could play at that level. I think as you start to realize you can, that you can be productive playing a certain way up and down the lineup, that just helped build my confidence and it was kind of a snowball effect from there. It kept going and kept going, and still rolling down the hill."
Throughout the eight games he's played with the Jets, he's played on a number of different lines. He recorded his first career two-point game in the NHL in a 4-2 win over Montreal on April 11 while playing with Nikolaj Ehlers and Paul Stastny.
"Injuries opened up an opportunity and he took an advantage of it," said Jets interim head coach Dave Lowry. "He's on the right side of the puck. He has a good understanding of where to go in the offensive zone, how to get open, how to use his size to his advantage. I know it's a short window period of time, but he's allowed us to move him up and down our line-up."
Tonight, Barron will skate on the left wing alongside Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton.

While the Jets only held an optional skate on Tuesday morning, the line rushes from Monday's practice give an indication of how the rest of the line-up will look.
The projected lines look like this:
Connor-Stastny-Ehlers
Sanford-Dubois-Wheeler
Barron-Lowry-Appleton
Harkins-Toninato-Svechnikov
Morrissey-DeMelo
Schmidt-Pionk
Stanley-Dillon
The last time the Jets and Rangers faced off, Winnipeg fired 46 shots at the New York net. Igor Shesterkin was up to the challenge though, and stopped 45 of them to help the Rangers to a 4-1 win.
That was just over a month ago in Winnipeg. Currently, the Rangers are two points back of the Carolina Hurricanes for top spot in the Metropolitan Division.
"We expect to see a team similar to what we saw in our building," said Lowry of the Rangers, who have won each of their past two games. "The challenge for us, No. 1 is speed. We'll have to make sure that we're prepared to skate. We'll have to make sure that we play direct and we have to make sure that we manage the game the right way."
The Jets have dropped both of the first two stops on the road trip by a combined 13-5 score. After those losses in Florida and Tampa Bay, the Jets are 10 points back final wildcard spot in the Western Conference with six games remaining.

"There's a bunch of things that we can do better as a group, but these next couple of games, we're not looking at it as just the time passing," said Kyle Connor. "We've got to look at it as a group to get better."
Connor comes into the game with a team-leading 87 points following a two-point night against the Lightning on Saturday. He's missed only three games this season, and has only four penalty minutes.
"I would think that would make him worthy of winning the Lady Byng trophy," Lowry said. "A guy that has an impact every night ono the outcome of a hockey game, leading the team in scoring, is one of the elite goal scorers in the National Hockey League, and he takes two minor penalties - that tells me right there he doesn't get enough recognition."
Just like Barron, Connor will have the chance to earn a little more of that recognition tonight.
Earning a victory inside the building proclaimed as 'The World's Most Famous Arena' would be the best way to do that.
Puck drop is set for 6 pm CT.