3 Keys: Jets at Golden Knights, Game 2 of Western 1st Round

(2WC) Jets at (1P) Golden Knights
Western Conference First Round, Game 2
Winnipeg leads best-of-7 series 1-0
10 p.m. ET; TBS, CBC, SN, TVAS, ATTSN-RM

LAS VEGAS --The Winnipeg Jets aren't resting on their laurels for Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.
The Jets, courtesy of a 5-1 win in Game 1 on Tuesday, have stolen home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series, but they expect a far bigger challenge Thursday.
There is an expectation the Golden Knights will be better in every aspect, but particularly so on their power play, which was 0-for-3 in Game 1, and on their forecheck, the bread and butter for starting their attack.
"We talked about that this morning," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. "Listen, there were four games last night, three of the series] are 1-1. Only one team is 2-0. We're in a position to help ourselves a lot. We can't be satisfied.
"We keep telling them, and we talked about it today, as the series goes on, every game gets harder to win. [Game 2] is harder to win than one, three is harder to win than two and especially the fourth game. We know what we're up against tonight."
***RELATED: [Complete Golden Knights vs Jets series coverage]*
Each team is expected to stay with the lineup it used in Game 1.
Winnipeg forward Nikolaj Ehlers did not take part in the Jets morning skate Thursday and remains a game-time decision after missing Game 1 with an upper-body injury. Forward Morgan Barron is expected to play despite taking more than 75 stitches to his face in Game 1.
Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy says he expects no surprises to his roster for Game 2 and will go back to the forward lines that started Game 1 after putting his combos into the blender for the final two periods of the opener.
Teams that take a 2-0 lead are 342-54 (86.4 percent) winning a best-of-7 series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including 5-2 (71.4 percent) last season.
Here are 3 keys for Game 2:

1. Getting to the fore

The Golden Knights base their offense on a forecheck that turns over pucks and keeps opponents pinned in their own zone.
That was almost non-existent in Game 1, particularly in the third period, when Vegas was limited to two shots.
"I feel like when we can get it on the forecheck and sustain some time there, that's when we're at our best," Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague said. "It's obviously easier said than done, because they have good players too, and they're pushing right back at us."
For the Jets, assured movement of the puck has been key to blunting the forecheck. Their forwards have slowed down the Vegas forwards, allowing the Winnipeg defensemen time to get their part of the job done.
"We have to keep the puck moving," Jets defenseman Dylan Samberg said. "The puck is going to move faster than they will. The sooner we get the puck moving and out of our zone, the better."

2. Rolling Stone

Golden Knights forward Mark Stone returned for Game 1 after being out since Jan. 12 after reaggravating a back injury, and had surgery Jan. 31. He played 21:28 in his return, but struggled at times to make an impact. He was minus-3.
More is expected in Game 2.
"Mark looked like his timing was off, which we expected," Cassidy said. "He hasn't played since January. He has practiced a little bit but not at a high, high, high level for a long period of time. So we have to work through it with Mark because he's just got to get his touches and get a feel for people around him."

3. Line dance

Vegas' inability to generate much offense, particularly after falling behind 2-0 early in the second period, forced the Golden Knights to change up their lines looking for a spark.
The blender was working pretty well for the final 37 minutes of Game 1, but Vegas will start Game 2 with the same forward deployment that started Tuesday. How long it stays that way is up for debate.
"There's some loyalty to the players that got you this far and I think we owe them as much to sort of correct here tomorrow," Cassidy said. "We made the switch because we got behind and Winnipeg is a good defensive team, and it didn't look like there was a lot of room out there. So maybe it gets a spark. We may switch again. I mean, these are things you have to consider."

Jets projected lineup

Kyle Connor -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Mark Scheifele
Nino Niederreiter -- Vladislav Namestnikov -- Blake Wheeler
Morgan Barron -- Adam Lowry -- Mason Appleton
David Gustafsson -- Kevin Stenlund -- Saku Maenalanen
Josh Morrissey -- Dylan DeMelo
Brenden Dillon -- Neal Pionk
Dylan Samberg -- Nate Schmidt
Connor Hellebuyck
David Rittich
Scratched: Logan Stanley, Kyle Capobianco, Dominic Toninato , Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Karson Kuhlman
Injured: Cole Perfetti (upper body), Sam Gagner (lower body), Nikolaj Ehlers (upper body)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Ivan Barbashev -- Jack Eichel -- Jonathan Marchessault
Reilly Smith -- William Karlsson -- Phil Kessel
Michael Amadio -- Chandler Stephenson -- Mark Stone
Brett Howden -- Nicolas Roy -- Keegan Kolesar
Alec Martinez -- Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague -- Zach Whitecloud
Laurent Brossoit
Jonathan Quick
Scratched: Paul Cotter, Kaedan Korczak, Brayden Pachal, Teddy Blueger, Pavel Dorofeyev, Ben Hutton, Adin Hill
Injured: William Carrier (lower body), Logan Thompson (undisclosed)

Status report

Each team held an optional morning skate Thursday. ... The Jets signed Toninato, a forward, to a two-year, two-way contract Wednesday.
NHL.com independent correspondent Paul Delos Santos contributed to this report