UNDER THE WEATHER
Pierre-Luc Dubois had points in seven of his previous eight games heading into Tuesday night's tilt against Vegas, and picked up an assist on Mark Scheifele's hat trick goal with 1.7 seconds left in regulation. That gave the powerful centre seven goals and 17 points in a nine-game span.
That final assist didn't come easily though. In fact, nothing came easy for Dubois against Vegas.
His assist came at the end of a third period that saw Dubois play 4:42, with most of it (3:33) coming in the final 8:05 of regulation.
"He's really sick. He's under the weather, big time," said Jets head coach Rick Bowness after the loss to Vegas. "And there's a few other guys, a couple guys on IVs in there right now."
That would be why Winnipeg's originally scheduled practice for Wednesday was called off, and only Ehlers took to the ice.
The belief is that a day of rest, in the midst of 13 games in 22 days, is exactly what the Jets need as they prepare for the home stand finale against Nashville on Thursday.
SURGING SCHEIFELE
Usually, Mark Scheifele netting a hat trick leads to a win for the Winnipeg Jets.
He'd certainly prefer a win to a hat trick, but nonetheless, his sixth career three-goal game gives him 18 goals on the season. That leads the Jets by four over the next closest player (Dubois), and puts Scheifele ninth in the NHL in that category.
Scheifele, who hit the 600-point milestone with a two-assist performance against the Blues, has hit the 30-goal mark twice in his career. He had a career-high 38 in 2018-19, and 32 in 2016-17.
He's also had 29 goals in a season three times (2016, 2020, and 2022), but has yet to hit the 40-goal mark.
If he continues this pace, he'll have no problem doing that this season.
As much as he has confidence in his game, he's just as confident in his team's ability to bounce back from losing two straight games for just the second time this season.
"We're just a good team. We don't want to lose games and we want to rebound. We come in the next night and battle hard and give it our all and that's all we can do here, is get some rest and be ready for Nashville."
EXPECTATIONS FOR KUHLMAN
As snow continues to fall in Winnipeg, it's believed that Karson Kuhlman's flight will navigate its way through the snowflakes into the Manitoba capital at some point on Wednesday.
"He's not getting in until late," said Bowness on Tuesday. "I don't know a whole lot about him. I hear great things about his skating and his compete and everything else."
The Jets claimed Kuhlman off waivers from the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
