Lambert will play centre with Cole Perfetti on his left and Gabe Vilardi on his right and the Finnish forward will see some time on the power play as well with the second unit.
“I think just play my game. Obviously, this team has been great on the defensive side,” said Lambert.
“Make sure I’m responsible back in my own end, and just with the puck try to play my game, chip in and try to create.”
While Vilardi took a lot of the draws on the Jets road trip for Mark Scheifele, that won’t be the case tonight against St. Louis. The plan is for Lambert to take face-offs and Vilardi will be there in a supporting role.
“If he gets kicked out, I'll be there. And obviously that's a little hopefully you can kind of ease him a little bit. I know, when I was young and I was something, I was nervous about, just draws,” said Vilardi.
“You don't want to be chasing the game all night. You lose one, you lose two in a row. It kind of gets in your head. So, I haven't really chatted with him that much yet, but I'll be sure to let him know. Don't worry about it if you do get kicked out. I’m right there.”
Arniel likes the idea of having a big body like Vilardi matched up with Lambert.
“Just come up and do what he needs to do best. He's a skater, he's got great offensive instincts. There's stuff we'll go over about how we play without the puck, but this is the opportunity,” said Arniel.
“He got a sniff last year at the end of the year. This is an opportunity for him again to go out and show the organization, his teammates, that he can help us.”
That is not the only change to the Jets lineup as Ville Heinola will slot back in alongside Logan Stanley on the Jets third defence pairing. Heinola is going to play the right side.
“He's been there. Like I said, one thing about Stan and Ville, you gotta get them, no good sitting in the press box. Like I said with Ville, it was fast-moving water on that road trip there, and he got a couple of games and then just kind of re-set him again,” said Arniel.
“Those two together, Ville being on that side of the ice, he sees the ice really well. He actually does good things over there, especially offensively. So just need him to make that first good pass, be responsible without the puck.”
The Jets are 9-1-0 at Canada Life Centre this season, including a current five-game winning streak. They have the best home win percentage with .900 and are one win away from tying the league lead for most wins at home with 10, matching the Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars.
