So on Friday afternoon the majority of the Jets roster was on the ice at Bell Sensplex in Ottawa, including Josh Morrissey, who missed Thursday's game as a result of blocking a shot in the first period of Tuesday's 3-2 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks.
He's hopeful to be in the line-up on Saturday.
"I'm feeling good. I had a good skate today and feeling a lot better," said Morrissey, who had only missed two games this season due to injury.
"At the time, missing the game feels like the end of the world as a player. At the same time, things could always be worse."
The 23-year-old defenceman tried to return to the game against the Sharks, but only managed one shift before heading back to the dressing room.
He went for a quick skate prior to the formal pregame skate in Montreal, but was held out.
"There's nothing worse than sitting out, especially with injuries, and not being able to play. It's always tough," said Morrissey. "It's something no player likes to do. It was a tough night for us but we'll look forward to a big weekend here with two fast teams we'll have to get ready for."
Now the Jets shift their focus to the Senators, who snapped a five-game skid with a 4-0 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.
The Senators are the 31st ranked team in the league standings, but Andrew Copp knows they're just as dangerous as Montreal.
"They've got some highly skilled forwards in their top six that are capable of putting the puck in the net at any point for sure," said Copp.
"It's going to be a similar type game. Their forwards are a little bit differently skilled than Montreal, but we have to be ready to go."
After Connor Hellebuyck made 48 saves against the Canadiens, Maurice said there is a strong chance that Laurent Brossoit will get the call between the pipes against the Senators.
That game starts a back-to-back set of afternoon starts, finishing on Sunday at 1 pm CT against the Buffalo Sabres.
So far this season, Brossoit is 10-2-1 with a 0.940 save percentage.
"Every day he's a worker. He comes to the rink and doing his routine, he's like a machine doing the same thing every day," said Morrissey. "In practice, he's staying on a really long time after practice. He's out there early working with Wade Flaherty. You always see him watching video of past games.
"He came in probably with a bit of a chip on his shoulder and he wants to prove himself and he's been outstanding for us."
But no matter who is in the line-up, the key is for the Jets to get back to their identity.
"We've been good at being able to get our focus back on what makes us good. We got a real good lesson from Montreal," Maurice said. "Their game is what we're good at, we didn't have it on display and they had it on full display. We have a fairly clean idea of what our game identity is. We don't have to search for it for too long. That's the test tomorrow."
Puck drop at Canadian Tire Centre is set for 1 pm CT on Saturday.
ICE CHIPS
Nikolaj Ehlers was one of the skaters on the ice for practice Friday. The Danish forward wore a non-contact jersey and spent most of the session with the team's Director of High Performance, Dr. Craig Slaunwhite.
"The window will be open in about seven or eight days. He's touching the puck today with the group for the first time," said Maurice. "He's on pace. There's not a lot of room with this one. We're going to wait a certain amount of time then see where he's at."
