After all, the best way to put a smile on the captain's face during a tough time is for his squad to earn a victory.
Maurice said the Jets will go with 11 forwards and seven defencemen tonight. Cole Perfetti will come out of the line-up after playing the first two games of the season, while Nathan Beaulieu will come in on the blue line.
The Jets line-up is expected to look like this, with Connor Hellebuyck expected to start in goal:
Connor-Scheifele-Copp
Stastny-Dubois-Ehlers
Harkins-Lowry-Vesalainen
Svechnikov-Nash
Morrissey-Schmidt
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-DeMelo
Beaulieu
Andrew Copp is used to getting tapped on the shoulder whenever adversity hits in the line-up. So far this season, Copp is one of 11 Jets on the roster with one point - his came on a shorthanded goal against San Jose on Saturday - and he's also no stranger to playing with Scheifele or Kyle Connor.
"I've played with Mark for a while and KC, we were the only two guys in Detroit wearing a Winnipeg jersey so we always seemed to be on the same team in the summer," he said with a grin. "You play with each other enough you kind of know some tendencies. It will be good to be with those guys tonight."
This will be the third straight game that the Jets have been the visitors for their opposition's home opener.
The Wild's two victories this season have by a 2-1 score over Anaheim on Oct. 15, and a 3-2 win in Los Angeles the next night.
Tonight's tilt will also be the first time in 654 days that the Jets have faced off with the Wild, and to say the roster looks different compared to Jan. 4, 2020 might be an understatement.
Gone are names synonymous with the Wild franchise, like Ryan Suter, Zach Parise, Devan Dubnyk, and Mikko Koivu.
And in are names like Kirill Kaprizov, last season's Calder Trophy winner.
"They're probably more high flying, a little more skill than maybe they used to be," said Copp. "It's going to be a good test. Getting back into the Central Division is going to be nice after going basically two years without playing a Central Division game, it'll be nice to get back into that fight and that grind tonight."
That grind is exactly what Maurice feels his team needs right now.
He's seen the signs that his club is heading in the right direction. At this point, it's just a matter of putting it all together. The style of game he's come to expect from the Central Division is exactly what's required from the Jets tonight.
"There's a place we have to get after our, get that pace up, get that grind, that wasn't in those first two games, they weren't those types of games," Maurice said. "I think tonight, getting back to the real Central Division game in a couple years. I think this is going to be a banger and a grinder and its exactly what we need to play our game."
If the last few seasons have shown the Jets anything, it's that they can handle adversity and thrive when it hits.
Scheifele believes tonight is a chance to prove that again.
"You have to be excited about the battle and excited to play another hockey game," Scheifele said. "We have a lot of great guys in this room and we just have to keep on building together and doing it together. Knowing that it's not all going to change on one shift and it's not going to all change in one period. It's got to be built.
"Tonight is the start of it."
