GAMEDAY: Lightning at Jets

WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Jets are hoping to stay in the playoff chase in the Western Conference when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at Canada Life Centre.

The Jets begin the day nine points out of a playoff spot and will face a Lightning team that has dropped three straight but are still on top of the Atlantic Division.

“At this time of year, they’ve still got their own battles going in the East. It doesn’t matter what opponent it is, for us, it’s about us getting to our game and like I said, we have to do a really good job of defending against a team that transitions well and is really good in the offensive zone,” said head coach Scott Arniel.   

“The other thing is that we have to get inside. You can’t play on the outside against these guys, you have to try and get inside ice. They do a good job of protecting that slot area and don’t allow a lot of second opportunities. We have to be good.”

Winnipeg wants to build off their third period from Tuesday when they overcame a 2-1 deficit to comeback and beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 in overtime. The Jets have points in four straight coming out of the Olympic break but should have been four straight wins with blown leads in Anaheim and San Jose haunting them.

“I think there's still a lot of things in our game that we can do better, but these are games that we have to win, especially against the opponents we're facing,” said Gabe Vilardi.

“When we're playing against a team like Chicago or San Jose, ideally, we want to get two points, and don't allow them to get any points, but what are you gonna do? We get a point. We'll take it.”

Make sure to watch the Jets pregame show "The Check In" at 12:30 CT with Sara Orlesky and Jamie Thomas.

Winnipeg has now seen four consecutive contests end in overtime after Tuesday’s win over Chicago. If the Jets go to overtime against Tampa Bay on Thursday for the fifth straight game, it will mark the longest streak of consecutive overtime games in franchise history. The Jets have now posted a 4-10 record in overtime this season, including a 3-8 record in games decided in three-on-three and a 1-2 record in games decided in the shootout.

There is also the trade deadline looming at 2 CT tomorrow afternoon, there is a different feel around the Jets room as last year it was no question that they were going to add. This time around, Winnipeg is on the outside looking in. There are a numerous Jets in the lineup tonight that have expiring contracts like Luke Schenn, Cole Koepke, Tanner Pearson and Gustav Nyquist.

“I think the biggest thing is guys in this locker room want to kind of support the guys where there’s a lot of uncertainty on expiring deals. There’s rumours surrounding them. Two, show up and put your best foot forward,” said Adam Lowry.

“Our job is to go out and win hockey games and continue to push to try and make the playoffs, regardless of how big that gap is. I think we’ve done a good job coming out of the break. Points in all four games. Obviously, I haven’t loved our game at times and things like that. But another really big test. One of the best teams in the league, if not the best in the league, is coming in tonight. They’ve lost a couple, so we definitely know we’re going to get their best game. It’s another opportunity for us to keep trying to stack points.”

Thursday night’s matchup could see two of the five active Vezina Trophy winners square off in Connor Hellebuyck and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Hellebuyck has posted a combined record of 19-9-3 when opposing the other four active Vezina-winning goaltenders and his 7-2-1 record against Vasilevskiy is the best among the group.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7 CT.