Off Day Notebook: Mar. 19, 2021

EDMONTON - The rest on Friday was a welcome feeling for the Winnipeg Jets.
They won't use the schedule as an excuse, especially since the Edmonton Oilers - who defeated the Jets 2-1 on Thursday - were in the same situation as the Jets were.
Back half of a back-to-back with travel in between games.
It's tough any time it pops up on the schedule, but when two of the National Hockey League's most gifted offensive teams - who combined for 33 goals in their previous four meetings this season - muster up only three in the fifth meeting, it's noticeable.
However, even with a day off, Jets head coach Paul Maurice thinks the rest of the season could be a grind, no matter what team's schedule you look at.
"You're going to look at the next month, for the most part, league-wide. This game is going to be a grinder," Maurice said. "You've got some of these teams playing every single second night. Dallas' schedule comes to mind. We're just not going to see the energy you'd normally see.
"We all expect it. It's not an excuse."

Winnipeg is scheduled to play 17 games in the month of March. They've played 10 of them so far, going 5-4-1 over the span of those 18 days.
The remaining seven games will take place between Saturday's rematch with the Oilers and the March 31 home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs - a span of 11 days.
"We're playing in the NHL. You've got to get up for every game," said Mark Scheifele, who led all forwards in ice time on Thursday at 23:51.
The feat was even more impressive after Scheifele blocked a shot off his foot at the end of the first period, and hobbled his way to the dressing room without putting much weight on that foot.
"It's fine," Scheifele said after the game, instead wanting to focus on moving forward. "We've got to take the positives out of (Thursday), get our rest and be ready for the next one."
VETERAN PRESENCE
A big reason Scheifele had nearly 24 minutes of ice time left in the tank after playing the night before - outside of the all the work he puts in over the off-season to be prepared for the NHL grind - was the play of the Mathieu Perreault, Nate Thompson, and Trevor Lewis trio on Wednesday.
In the 4-3 overtime win over Montreal, that group all hit double digits in ice time, which kept the top line forwards under 20 minutes.
Maurice has used them in defensive zone face-off situations and late in games - regardless of whether the Jets are leading (like they were on Wednesday) or trailing (like on Thursday).
"They're getting action around the net. They play a real simple game. And it's a net-drive game," said Maurice. "It all ends up around the net. Trevor Lewis had a chance around that net front. When you get that last line that goes out before you're thinking about pulling your goaltender, you'd like to get an offensive zone faceoff. You'd love to get a goal certainly, but you're looking for that sustained puck to the net kind of idea and I just thought those guys have been doing that for a while. They looked good."

That net drive game produced Winnipeg's only goal on Thursday, which was Perreault's seventh of the season.
It started in the defensive end with a nice defensive play from Lewis, who moved it to Perreault, who hit Thompson with a pass in the neutral zone.
As Thompson gained the zone on the right wing, Perreault took off toward the net and deflected Thompson's shot through Mikko Koskinen.
"We want to be out there and have a chance to make a difference every night," said Perreault. "We're three responsible guys in our own end. We want Paul to have that trust in us to put us out there late in games to get the job done. So we were glad to see we got that time and hopefully we can get more of that."
All three players pull double duty for Maurice. Thompson and Lewis are part of the penalty kill, while Perreault is a part of a Jets power play that sits 10th in the NHL.
They may never be at the top of the roster when it comes to average ice time, but when the schedule is as much of a grind as Winnipeg's is this month, every minute counts.
"We're talking about two or three minutes a night. If those guys can shave your top end guys by that, especially in this schedule, we think there is going to be a long-term benefit for that," said Maurice.
"They can play. If they're healthy, these guys can go on a long run and play well for you, and not get worn down."
THE NEXT TEST
The statistic itself needs almost no introduction.
Following a regulation loss this season, the Jets are a sparkling 8-0-1.
They earned that eighth victory on Wednesday, with captain Blake Wheeler opening the scoring against Montreal 50 seconds into the hockey game.

Winnipeg finished that night with a 4-3 overtime victory. Now, they'll try to bounce back against the Oilers, which is something they've already done this season.
One might recall that back in January, Leon Draisaitl scored the game-winner with less than a second left in regulation to give the Oilers a 4-3 win.
Two nights later, on Jan. 26, the Jets fought back and prevailed by a score of 6-4.
The group has confidence they can do it yet again.
"We're a confident group. We lose one, we just put it behind us and focus on the next one. We've got a great group of guys," said Perreault. "That's just kind of the mentality we've had and we've been able to bounce back pretty much every time we've lost so far this year."
Scheifele was held off the score sheet on Thursday, marking just the second time this season he's been held pointless in consecutive games.
The last time it happened, he stormed back with three assists in a 5-2 Jets win over the Vancouver Canucks on Mar. 2.
"You've got to rely on the brotherhood that we have. You've got to do all your things to get recuperated and recover for the next night," said Scheifele. "We've got a fantastic group in here, guys with a lot of character. We've got guys who take care of their bodies and want more, which is an amazing thing to have, every guy wanting more, wanting to be better the next night. That's the character that's shown in this room."