Wild hasn't forgotten most recent matchup with Jets

ST. PAUL -- The last time the Wild and Winnipeg Jets played, it was a few days after Thanksgiving. Coming off a 6-3 loss on St. Louis two nights earlier, Minnesota played arguably its worst game of the year in a 7-2 loss at Bell MTS Place.
Quite simply, it knows that kind of effort is not acceptable this time around.
Minnesota will play Winnipeg for the first time since that game on Saturday when the Central Division rivals clash at Xcel Energy Center.

"It was quite a ways ago, but we definitely haven't forgot," said Wild forward Chris Stewart. "They're the top team in the division right now and that's where we want to be. These are games we gotta have here and we want to go into the break feeling good about our game."
The Wild had several defensive breakdowns in front of goaltender Alex Stalock in that game. There was little -- if anything -- Stalock could have done about any of the seven scored against him, something the guys in front of him immediately took responsibility for.
"They've outplayed us this year," said Wild forward Tyler Ennis. "We gotta be better defensively, shut down their speed, be good in the neutral zone, be good in the [defensive] zone and just be confident. We've been good at home lately, and really just establish that home ice and make it harder for them to play against us."
The game Saturday marks the final meeting of the season between the clubs; Winnipeg won a pair of one-goal games back in October, a trend that was snapped in the blowout game in November.
The Jets are without speedy centerman Mark Scheifele, who is out with an upper-body injury. Scheifele had one goal and two assists in the matchup in November, a game where Winnipeg scored seven unanswered goals.
"They've got good [defensemen] and they play fast," Ennis said. "[They have] a lot of guys with speed, [Nikolaj] Ehlers, [Blake] Wheeler; they're a good team. We're gonna have to play a hard game and play better than we have in the past against them. It's a big match tomorrow."

Winnipeg enters play on Friday atop the Central Division standings with a chance to extend that lead with a matchup against Chicago at the United Center.
Along with a speedy, talented roster, that taste of success has made the Jets a more difficult team to play against.
"They're hungry," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I guess they were tired of having all this promise and not fulfilling it. They've been great, their attitude is, '(Darn) everyone else,' I think, and they're playing extremely well. We've known it three times."

Power up

The Wild worked on its special teams -- specifically its power play -- early in practice on Friday. Its man-advantage units are 2-for-16 this month and 0-for-8 in games this week against Calgary and Chicago.
Minnesota's power play has tumbled to 18th best in the League at 18.4 percent, but could have a chance to better that against a Jets penalty kill that ranks in the middle of the pack at 81.2 percent.
"I think there's two things: We need a net presence more often, and we need to move the pucks quicker," Boudreau said. "That's why we were doing the 5-on-3 at the beginning, it was just about moving pucks. When you move pucks and they can't get to those areas, good things happen. When you're slow and people are allowed to box up, it's easy to kill."
Winnipeg's power play is second behind only Pittsburgh in efficiency this season at 25.6 percent. Minnesota's penalty kill was among the top three until a rough night in Denver last week, when it surrendered three power-play goals.
Patrik Laine's 11 power-play goals are second-most in the NHL, one behind Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos. Many of those goals have come from the "Ovechkin circle," near the left faceoff dot.

Like with Washington's Alex Ovechkin, teams know it's coming, but his lethal shot makes it incredibly difficult to contain.
With Scheifele in the middle, Boudreau said, you didn't know who was getting the puck. But with Scheifele out, Wheeler has started to shoot more.
"It almost makes it more dangerous," Boudreau said. "With the ability for him to shoot the puck. And now that [Dustin] Byfuglien has scored, they'll probably start going to him. It's a good power play, but the best way to kill it is not to take penalties."