GAMEDAY: Jets at Stars

While the first stop on the road trip was one the Winnipeg Jets would like to forget, they're going to put everything to have into ensuring tonight's tilt in Dallas is one to remember.
First, they'd like to win on the night that Blake Wheeler becomes the franchise's all-time leader in games played, as he'll pass Bryan Little's 843 games when the Jets take on the Stars.
Second, it's a match-up against a Stars team they're trying to chase down in the Central Division standings. Dallas (12-5-3) sits four points up on the Jets (11-6-1), with Winnipeg holding two games in hand.
Yes, it's still somewhat early, as teams near the quarter-mark of the season, but the points matter all the same.
"Dallas is playing great hockey, scoring tons of goals, so it's a really good test for us," said Bowness, adding he's looking forward to seeing the response from his club after the tough outing in Minnesota.
"I made my talking points immediately after the game and we left it at that," Bowness said. "They have to take ownership of that. It's as simple as that. Usually you lose like that you walk away and you deal with it at a later point. I dealt with it after the game and gave them some things to think about. I expect it to be corrected tonight."

In the two other meetings this season, the home side has held serve both times, with Dallas earning a 4-1 win on October 17, and the Jets offence powering them to a 5-1 win at Canada Life Centre just over two weeks ago.

Winnipeg's focus isn't on those past meetings, though. It's on the present, and trying to be better in a number of the areas that plagued them in the 6-1 loss to Minnesota two nights ago.
"You look at things you can improve on, what caused the issues," said defenceman Josh Morrissey. "A sign of a good team is trying not to ever lose two in a row. That's a goal I think every team in the league has. For us, it's about getting to our game, turning the page, and bringing our best effort tonight."
It's expected that the Jets will get defenceman Dylan DeMelo back in the line-up tonight at American Airlines Center.
DeMelo has missed the last four games with an upper-body injury, but had been skating for a few days in a non-contact jersey prior to the road trip.
At the pre-game skate, DeMelo shed that non-contact jersey for a regular practice jersey, and feels ready to step right in to a divisional clash.
"I felt pretty compromised against Seattle and I just wasn't good enough to play until now," said DeMelo. "You don't want to take any games for granted in this league. You want to play all the games you can. I thought the guys did a great job playing good hockey, probably outside that Minny game. I'm just looking to get my game back and help the team out."
The 29-year-old will slot in alongside Dylan Samberg, who he was paired with at the time of his injury.

Line-up wise, Connor Hellebuyck will get his second straight start - and third this season against Dallas - while the skaters in front of him are expected to look like this:
Connor-Dubois-Gagner
Perfetti-Scheifele-Wheeler
Harkins-Lowry-Eyssimont
Jonsson-Fjallby-Gustafsson-Maenalanen
Morrissey-Pionk
Dillon-Schmidt
Samberg-DeMelo
The switching of centres - specifically Mark Scheifele and Pierre-Luc Dubois - was something Bowness did in the second period against Minnesota. It resulted in Winnipeg's lone goal, and he's going back to that look tonight.
"I didn't like our offence last game. We scored four against Carolina, but they were all on breakaways and that. That's not sustainable," Bowness said. "We spent over six minutes in the o-zone in Minnesota, but we didn't generate much. That's why you can't hide behind the analytics.
"We need to put more pucks in the net. The opportunities are there, but they're not going in. So a little change might help. We'll see where it goes."
Dallas is coming off a 6-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday, but it took five unanswered goals in the third period to erase a 4-1 deficit to make it happen.

The Stars are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games and have been led by forward Jason Robertson's 16 goals (tied for the league lead) and 31 points (second in the National Hockey League).
"They have a deep line-up and a lot of high-end skill, guys that are really feeling it," said Morrissey. "They play really well at home, it's a tough arena to play in. We have to be ready to go. Coming off a game that we're disappointed with in Minnesota, it's a good test for us tonight to come out and try to play our best game against a team that we're trying to catch."
Lost in all the storylines heading into Friday's match-up between the jets and Stars is that it's the long-awaited return of Bowness to Dallas, where he coached for five years and served as head coach for just over two of those.
He's not reading too much into that storyline though.
"We lost our last game and we're trying to stay in the fight for first place," said Bowness. "You can't get wrapped up in the noise. My focus is on our team, regardless of who we play and where we play, and get back playing the way we're capable of playing."
Puck drop is set for 7:30 pm CT.
ICE CHIPS
Morgan Barron was part of the Jets morning skate and stayed on for some contact work, despite being in a non-contact jersey for the session.
Bowness doesn't expect him to play in Chicago, where the three-game road trip will wrap up on Sunday, but he does plan to use these next few days to see where Barron is at - and how much contact he can take.
"We're going to practice tomorrow in Chicago and we'll crank it up again. I would say he's close," said Bowness. "If we can have today, Saturday, and Sunday with hard skates for him, then I wouldn't rule him out for Tuesday. At this point, we'll see how he feels after today and after tomorrow."
-- Mitchell Clinton, WinnipegJets.com
Game Notes
Blake Wheeler is poised to become the franchise leader in games played on Friday in Dallas. He's played 843 games for the franchise, which is tied with Bryan Little for the most in franchise history.
The Jets are 0.500 on the road this season at 4-4-1. Winnipeg hasn't lost consecutive games in regulation on the road this season.
Winnipeg is in the midst of playing four consecutive games against Central Division opponents. The Jets are 5-2-0 against their divisional counterparts this season, with both losses coming on the road.
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