Thomas' Five Storylines - WPG @ SJ

HERE COMES 55
Mark Scheifele makes his return to the Jets lineup tonight after serving his four-game suspension that goes back to the second round series against the Canadiens in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. To say the Jets missed him would be an understatement, Winnipeg went 0-4 without Scheifele and outscored 14-4 and never had the lead once. Scheifele will slot back into his usual spot between Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler on the top line. The Ontario product will not try and do too much in his return.
"It's one of those things where you try to go out and work on your game," said Scheifele. "Play your game, do what your team does best.

DILLON/DEMELO BACK IN SAN JOSE
Brendan Dillon and Dylan DeMelo come back to San Jose to face their old teammates, in fact, the duo were at one time, a defence pairing for the Sharks. DeMelo has been here once with Ottawa, however, this will be the first time back for Dillon who played 439 regular season games in a Sharks jersey.
"Definitely pretty cool coming back here to San Jose. Great memories," said Dillon on Friday.
"From a hockey standpoint and as a person, I think I definitely grew a lot (here)."
Winnipeg Jets : Ground Control
·
Fly By - Oct. 16, 2021 - Jets at Sharks
SPECIAL TEAM IMPROVEMENTS
Outside of scoring with the man advantage and some more traffic in front of the opposing goaltender there doesn't need to be too much tinkering with the power play. The penalty kill is going to have some ups and downs with some new faces working their way in. Riley Nash and Dillon are adapting to a new system, Jansen Harkins and Kristen Vesalainen don't have a lot of PK experience.
"Our penalty kill probably got what it deserved. We ended up in our end in structure far more than we needed to be," said Maurice following the loss in Anaheim.
"There were pucks that were lifted at the net, the two tips (both goals) that you expose yourself too."
BOUNCE BACK FROM HELLEBUYCK
Outside of the first goal from the Ducks on Wednesday Connor Hellebuyck couldn't be blamed for all of the four goals he gave up on 22 shots in the opener. He returns to the place where you could argue Hellebuyck played his greatest game as a Jet, SAP Center. The 2020 Vezina Trophy winner made 51 saves in a 3-2 win over San Jose back in November of 2019. The Sharks traditionally come out hard in the opening 10 minutes on the home ice, we will see if the Jets can handle that opening half of the first period tonight.
ANOTHER OPPONENT REBUILDING
The Sharks like the Ducks will have some young faces in their lineup especially in their top six forwards. William Eklund and Jonathan Dahlen will be on their top two lines and will be part of San Jose's power play. Perhaps the biggest difference between the Sharks and Ducks is that San Jose has more experience on their back end with Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and of course, Erik Karlsson.