Morning Skate Report: Jets vs Ducks

WINNIPEG - The big night has finally arrived, as the Winnipeg Jets (0-2-1) will finally get to play in front of their home fans at Canada Life Centre after three games on the road.
"There is a good buzz there this morning," head coach Paul Maurice said of the morning skate. "It's been a long time since we've had our fans in this building."
There were fans in the preseason, but fans, players, and coaches would all agree that the regular season - with points on the line in the standings - brings far more energy.
In fact, it has been 591 days since the Jets played a regular season game in front of a full building in downtown Winnipeg.
"I'm excited when we get on the scoreboard tonight for there to be some cheering. It hasn't been that way the last couple games," said defenceman Nate Schmidt. "When you go on the road, it's fun to feed off energy, but it's not your energy - it's the energy from the other team's crowd. To have the energy from your own crowd is something that means a lot more."

The only question going into what will certainly be a memorable night - the Jets line-up.
The team announced that Mark Scheifele has entered the National Hockey League's Covid-19 protocol, joining Blake Wheeler.
However, Scheifele's status is a bit different than Wheeler's.

Scheifele is asymptomatic and since testing positive, has also tested negative. If he receives another negative test (those results are expected before tonight's puck drop against the Anaheim Ducks) Scheifele will be cleared to play.
"We have game time decisions all the time. The difference is if a guy has a pulled groin, you don't have to worry about it spreading to the guy he sits beside on the plane," said Maurice. "We've got two line-ups, two plans, and two power play groups. Mark is in the protocol now, so we're going down one direction. We've got that set for tonight. If we get good news on Mark here, we'll just quickly switch."
In more roster news, after reassigning forward Cole Perfetti to the Manitoba Moose on Wednesday, the Jets recalled Dominic Toninato from their AHL affiliate.
Toninato was one of the 11 forwards on the ice for morning skate on Thursday, a number that could increase to 12 if Scheifele is available to play.
With Scheifele not on the ice, the Jets line rushes looked like this:
Stastny-Copp-Ehlers
Connor-Dubois-Svechnikov
Harkins-Lowry-Vesalainen
Toninato-Nash
Morrissey-Schmidt
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-DeMelo
Beaulieu

Regardless of how the line-up looks, the focus for the Jets is getting into the win column after a road trip that saw them pick up one point out of a possible six.
"We're a foot in the air off of having two points last game. That happens," said Schmidt.
"This is the time not to get frustrated. This is the time to understand that the reality is you're 0-2-1, yes. But we're early, we're getting a lot of systems and functions and personalities into a group that is meshing well. We're playing hockey the way we want to in most areas of the game."
The opponent is familiar. After all, it was the Anaheim Ducks (2-2-0) who beat the Jets by a score of 4-1 at Honda Center just over a week ago.
Like the Jets, the Ducks are coming off a 6-5 loss. Anaheim's setback came in regulation time in Edmonton two nights ago.
"We let some points slip out of our hands," said Paul Stastny, reflecting on the road trip.
"We just have to regroup from last one (in Minnesota). They were all three different games. Three home openers, you got the best of all those teams. There is a lot of energy in those games."

One area the Jets are looking to improve from those games is special teams. Despite firing 12 shots on goal on the power play, Winnipeg couldn't solve John Gibson on five power play chances.
The penalty kill also gave up a couple goals, which has happened in every game so far this season. The last time that happened was a three-game stretch between Feb. 12 and Feb. 19, 2015.
"The penalty kill is the big area of focus," said Maurice. "I thought there had been improvements in each game, the final number of pucks in the net won't tell you that. In terms of face-off wins, pucks cleared, shots blocked, attempts to our net, we think we're right there. It's something in practice and our video every day."
Puck drop is set for 7 pm CT.