SUNRISE - The Winnipeg Jets continue a three-game road trip tonight as they conclude the season series with the Florida Panthers tonight.
The Jets (11-5-2) are looking to build off a 3-2 overtime win in Tampa Bay on Wednesday, and with a victory the Jets would extend their season long win streak to five.
In the first game of the season series, Winnipeg earned a 6-4 win over Florida at Canada Life Centre on October 14.
However, the Panthers team the Jets will face tonight will be much different than the one from mid-October. Defencemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour - both of whom didn't play in Winnipeg as they recovered from off-season surgeries - have made their return to the Florida line-up. Even Aleksander Barkov, who has missed the last two games due to injury, is ready to go and will play as well.
"They bring a huge dynamic offensively and defensively," Neal Pionk said of Montour and Ekblad. "I think power play is probably a big thing too. They’re both on the power play, both right handed, so it balances out their D corps too. We’ll have to keep track of them tonight too."
While that gives the Panthers line-up a boost, Winnipeg's group also received a boost of energy as head coach Rick Bowness returned to the team on Friday morning. Bowness has spent the last 32 days on a leave of absence after his wife, Judy, had a seizure shortly after the Jets returned home from an overtime win in Edmonton on October 21.
“Judy is doing about as well as we could expect. The meds that they have her on, we knew it was going to take a while for them to take full effect." said Bowness. "They told us originally that it would be 2-to-3 weeks and now it’s almost five.
“When you go through life, there are always life-changing moments and that was certainly a life-changing moment for us.”
Even though he was away, Bowness still kept in contact with the players and the coaching staff. He wwas proud of the work they all put in to go 9-2-2 during that stretch.
"Scott, Marty (Johnston), Brad (Lauer), James (Cochrane) and Matt (Prefontaine) and (Wade Flaherty), they did a fantastic job, as have our players," said Bowness. "I give our players an awful lot of credit for staying dialled in and focused and playing as well as they have. Most importantly, it’s (Mark Chipman) and (Kevin Cheveldayoff), they allowed me to take the time to be with Judy and we wouldn’t have made it without their support.”
The impact of Bowness' return to the room was felt physically and emotionally.
Physically because he literally gave everyone a hug. The emotional side can be harder to quantify, but captain Adam Lowry found the words.
"Having his presence back in the room, feeling that energy, you feel the love for the game," said Lowry. "He’s got so much knowledge, so much passion for it. Like we said, it’s really great to have him back.”
Bowness is ready to jump right in tonight against the Panthers, who are 7-2-0 on home ice.
“Florida is playing a very hard-nosed game and with those guys in the lineup now, they are a far better hockey club," said Bowness. "I have a ton of respect for the way that they play and a ton of respect for how the way they’re coached and the depth of their team. This will be a great challenge for us."
LINE RUSHES
Defenceman Brenden Dillon didn't take the morning skate and is officially listed as a game-time decision. Without Dillon on the ice, the Jets line rushes looked like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Gustafsson-Jonsson-Fjallby
Morrissey-DeMelo
Stanley-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt
Connor Hellebuyck is expected to get the start in goal. He's 7-3-0 against Florida in his career and has won five of his last six starts.
VILARDI GETTING CLOSER
Forward Gabriel Vilardi, who hasn't played since spraining his MCL on October 17 against the Los Angeles Kings, took another step in his recovery on Friday. He shed the non-contact jersey for a regular one, and while the Jets aren't practicing on Saturday, Bowness isn't ruling out the possibility of the 24-year-old making a return in the road trip finale on Sunday against Nashville.
"We’ll see how he does today," said Bowness. "I know they’ve been working him really hard and he’s responded well, so we got him out of the injured jersey and now he’s in contact. It’s unfortunate we don’t practice tomorrow because of the late arrival in Nashville, but we’ll see how he is on Sunday.”
