GAMEDAY: Jets vs Kings

WINNIPEG -For 45 minutes on Monday, the Winnipeg Jets skated through drills in preparation for taking on the Los Angeles Kings.
And head coach Rick Bowness' voice could be heard throughout Canada Life Centre, as the veteran coach made sure his instructions were loud and clear.
"There's days where you let your assistants run the drills and there's days when the only voice they should hear is the head coach's voice," said Bowness. "Today is one of those days."
The Jets (35-24-1) have dropped each of their last three games, including the most recent setback to the New York Islanders on Sunday.
"(Monday) was a really good practice. Probably a little longer, but we needed it," Bowness said. "We know who we are, we know what we look like. It's a matter of doing it consistently. We've gotten away from that. We're not reconfiguring how we play, we just have to get more committed to doing it and more committed to doing it with a more competitive attitude."

On Tuesday, they'll try and get back in the win column and, at the same time, pick up a victory in Nino Niederreiter's debut in Jets colours.
The winger, acquired by the Jets on Saturday, had his first skate with the team on Monday.
"It was definitely a hard practice, but it was good," Niederreiter said. "I mean getting to know the guys right way. It's a high-competitive team. Everybody seems like they want to take the next step. It was definitely an intense practice, but I had a long flight yesterday so I'm glad to get an intense practice."

He spent the majority of that skate with Nikolaj Ehlers and Pierre-Luc Dubois as line mates. Bowness knows that Niederreiter has played both left and right wing in his career, but will start on him on the left side.
"Nik has played a lot on the right side, so it's an easy switch there," said Bowness. "When you get a new player, you're never sure of where it's going to work. You start one way, you see if you like it, and if you don't then we can easily move those two guys around - KC and him. We'll start this way."
At least, that was the plan, until Dubois left the ice with what Bowness describes as a nagging lower-body injury.
That means Dubois is a game-time decision for Tuesday's home stand finale against the Kings, who sit second in the Pacific Division and are 5-3-2 in their last 10. If Dubois can't go, the Jets will play with 11 forwards and seven defencemen.
Mason Appleton won't play, as he's dealing with an upper-body injury.
The line rushes at the morning skate, without Dubois, looked like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Niederreiter-Lowry-Ehlers
Maenalanen-Stenlund-Kuhlman
Barron, Gagner
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Capobianco-Schmidt
Samberg-Stanley
Kyle Capobianco stayed on the ice for extra work with David Gustafsson, which would indicate he'd be the defenceman sitting out.

If it ends up that Adam Lowry is a linemate of Niederreiter in his Jets debut, the big centre will do all he can to make him feel comfortable.
"Obviously there's going to be some nerves. Coming into a new team, you want to make a positive impact right away," Lowry said. "You want to integrate him into the room and make sure that he's comfortable with the systems, make sure he's comfortable with the guys, get him acclimatized with the city and the organization as quick as possible."
No matter how the line-up shakes down, the Jets will be taking Bowness' instruction in practice to heart. A lot of it centered around pace, and getting pucks to the net.
Winnipeg, a team loaded with offensive talent, hasn't scored a five-on-five goal since a 4-1 win over the New York Rangers, a span of over 180 minutes.
"It sucks right now," said Ehlers. "But I think everyone can see that we had a pretty good response in the second and the third period last game compared to what was going on before that. So we're moving in the right direction. Everyone has a ton of confidence in this group. So it's a matter of putting that together."
Ehlers says that begins with moving the puck faster, and hitting the net.

Winnipeg had 44 shot attempts not get to the net on Sunday, with 20 of them missing the net entirely and another 24 blocked.
One of the calling cards of Niederreiter's game is getting to the front of the net, so having his presence there could result in some second chance opportunities for the Jets.
That's the area he feels he can help the Jets the most.
"I feel like my tenaciousness on the forecheck and in front of the net, getting those, hopefully, greasy goals and getting in the guys' face in front of the net and all those crumbs," he said. "I think that's my bread and butter and that's where I try to be there most."
Heading into Tuesday, the Jets are in the top wildcard spot, but have aspirations of climbing up those standings over the next 22 games.
Just six points separate the top team in the West (Vegas) from the second wildcard (Seattle).
"It's March 1st tomorrow, there's 22 games left and we're just hanging onto a playoff spot," said Bowness. "It's their responsibility to understand the situation that we're in. Obviously, we're going to talk about it and bring it to their attention, but it's their responsibility to understand it, accept it and prepare for it. This team tonight, it will be playoff intensity. Our team tonight, we expect to be playoff intensity."
Puck drop is set for 7 pm CT.
READ THE FULL GAME NOTES
READ MONDAY'S COVERAGE