DALLAS – Nikolaj Ehlers was one of a handful of Winnipeg Jets not to take the ice for Saturday’s optional practice in Dallas, but head coach Scott Arniel won’t rule the Danish forward out for the road trip finale against the Stars on Sunday.
Ehlers, who is one of three Jets averaging more than a point per game this season, played just 6:23 against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday before leaving with a lower-body injury.
The forward remains day-to-day, which was the same update Arniel gave following the 4-3 loss to the Golden Knights.
On Saturday, Arniel detailed what the next 24 hours will look like for Ehlers.
“He’ll get some treatment and some rest today,” said Arniel. “We can’t really do a whole heck of a lot until we get home. We’ll see how today goes. He’ll get full treatment and we’ll see if there is more soreness or if it’s better.”
Arniel said the fact the game against Dallas starts at 3:30 pm CT works against Ehlers a bit, as every hour matters when it comes to the forward trying to get in the line-up.
“He’s the type of guy that wants to play,” said Arniel. “Obviously we know what he means to us. You saw what he did on (Cole) Perfetti’s first goal. He has a skill set that the opposition coaches circle with his speed and his ability to create.”
With Ehlers unable to finish the game against Vegas, Alex Iafallo was the forward tasked with jumping into that right wing spot with Perfetti and Vladislav Namestnikov. That trio worked together for a little over 154 minutes at five-on-five last season (according to Natural Stat Trick). As a group, they had nearly a 58 percent share of the shot attempts and outscored their opposition 8-3.
“Al is a glue guy. He jumps up in those scenarios,” said Arniel. “He’s also on power play. There are different things he’s done before – like playing with those guys.”
Arniel added that despite the loss that dropped Winnipeg to 2-3-0 on the difficult six-game road trip, he liked what he saw from Perfetti – who had gone 11 games without a goal prior to Friday’s two-goal performance.
“I was really proud of Cole last night. He’s been struggling. The biggest thing is he went where he went to get that first goal – right to the net front against a team that’s real hard,” said Arniel. “He went right in there and got that first one. I like the way he competed on pucks. That line has to do that. With Al being there, we’re hoping – if he’s there tomorrow – we’ll see how it goes with Fly.”
