Practice Notebook - Nov. 7, 2022

WINNIPEG - Let's preface the opening of this notebook by saying - it's early.
But hey, a match-up for top spot in the Central Division always has a bit of extra motivation to it.
That's exactly what's about to go down at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday night, as the Winnipeg Jets (7-3-1) take on the Dallas Stars (8-3-1).
"This is where you want to be at the end of the year, so may as well get into it now," said defenceman Nate Schmidt after Monday's 45-minute skate. "There are a lot of storylines, right? Rick Bowness, first time at home versus the Dallas Stars is exciting. With how our group, the expectations we have for ourselves, I love the fact we're in a position to be here."
For his part, Bowness doesn't want to inject himself into the storyline, but he likes the fact his team is getting up for meaningful contests like this one.
"Regardless of who it is and it's a battle for first place, it's a divisional game," Bowness said. "Any time you play a divisional opponent, regardless of who it is, you want to win that one. I'd rather be in a battle for first rather than a battle for seventh or eighth."

Of the five divisional games the Jets have played this season, they've only lost one, and that came against the Stars back on October 17 at American Airlines Center in the second game of the season.
"We kind of got spanked in their building. So we're going to have to come with a good effort for top spot," said Dillon. "These are the measuring stick games where they're going pretty well. They had a good win on the road against a good team in Edmonton. Two teams playing well at the right time, it should be fun."
There were no surprises in Winnipeg's practice on Monday. The only players not to take part were Nikolaj Ehlers, Logan Stanley, and Morgan Barron - all of whom are nursing injuries.
Bowness said Stanley is still a couple weeks away, but there is hope that Ehlers - who has missed the last nine games with a lower-body injury - could begin skating later this week.
The line rushes looked like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Appleton
Perfetti-Dubois-Wheeler
Maenalanen-Lowry-Jonsson-Fjallby
Harkins-Gustafsson-Gagner
Toninato
Morrissey-Pionk
Dillon-Schmidt
Samberg-DeMelo
Capobianco
The exact line-up for the tilt against the Stars on Tuesday is still to be determined, but Bowness liked what he saw from both Kyle Capobianco and Jansen Harkins in their season debuts in Saturday's 4-0 win over Chicago.
"Kyle went out and played a very steady game. He moved the puck, joined the rush," said Bowness. "Harks gave us good energy. He was in on the forecheck and when he's using his speed and he's putting a lot of pressure on the opposition, he's an effective player."

However the line-up shakes out, Dallas' Jason Robertson - named the NHL's First Star of the Week on Monday thanks to four goals and eight points in three games last week - will be part of the pre-scout leading into Tuesday night.
"He's got great vision. It's his poise and confidence with the puck that goes hand in hand," said Bowness, who coached Robertson since he broke into the NHL in the 2019-20 season. "His first year it was the work ethic we didn't like, so we had to sit him out a little bit. Then he caught on, now he's working hard and became a 200-foot player."
So it's no wonder that Bowness had his coaching voice ready to roll on Monday, with repetitive shouts urging speed and pace coming out of Sunday's off day.
"When you come off a day off sometimes you're a little sluggish. We gotta get going," Bowness said. "It's going to be a very fast....it's going to be a great hockey game tomorrow night."

Dillon agrees, and as a former member of the Stars as well, he'd love to pick up a victory against Dallas to even up the season series - and defend home ice.
"Coming into the season if you wanted to ask us if we'd be in this spot, fighting for first place, we'd take it all day long," Dillon said. "We're excited to do this."