GAMEDAY: Jets at Canucks

VANCOUVER – At some point of the National Hockey League season, adversity will hit every team in one way or another.

For some, it may be a run of injuries. For others, tough bounces and a string of bad results.

With three losses halfway through their season-long six-game road trip, it could certainly be said that the Winnipeg Jets (9-6-0) are face-to-face with adversity at the moment.

"It’s the first little part of adversity here for us. It just comes down to working through it," said Parker Ford. "Whenever you’re going through any sort of slump, the only thing you can do is control your work ethic. That’s something I think we can pick up here - the controllables."

They’ve seen two injured players return in Adam Lowry and Cole Perfetti but have also lost Gustav Nyquist and Morgan Barron to the injured list – where defenceman Dylan Samberg finds himself as well.

And over the course of the trip, the team that scored 45 goals in the first 12 games of the season has mustered just two since a 5-2 win over Pittsburgh on November 1.

“Put it this way, nothing is feeling easy,” said defenceman Luke Schenn after falling to Anaheim on Sunday night. “We definitely are in a dog fight here. So we’ve got to clean it up on the fly, there’s not a lot of practice time, there’s not a lot of time to sit back and dwell on the last game, you’ve just got to pick it up and be positive. No finger pointing. Just one shift at a time and try to get this thing going in the right direction.”

The next opportunity to get things rolling in the right direction comes tonight against the Vancouver Canucks, who the Jets beat twice last season over three meetings. It’s the end of a four-game home stand for the Canucks (8-8-1), who dropped a 5-4 overtime decision to Colorado on Sunday night.

During Winnipeg’s Presidents’ Trophy winning 2024-25 campaign, they had a four-game losing streak as well as two three-game slides. They still went on to a franchise record season with 56 wins and 116 points.

Yes, this is a different team with many new faces. But there is still a heavy veteran presence in the Jets room, and that’s what teams rely on in these situations.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who have played a lot of meaningful hockey over the course of their career,” said Schenn. “It’s never going to be easy, as much as you think just because of the roster you have together. Every team has a really talented group of guys. This is all about execution and obviously, we’ve got a lot to clean up. We’ll look at it. To a man, we’ve all got to improve and get better - and we will.”

Connor Hellebuyck is expected to get the start in goal, and morning skate at Rogers Arena showed no line-up changes for the Jets from Sunday in Anaheim.

“The idea is to build. It’s to build shift to shift and period to period,” said Arniel. “These three games out on the road there just hasn’t been enough consistency doing that. That’s something we’ve talked about. It’s a mindset. It’s outworking the opposition and making the right decisions.”

That translates to the power play as well, according to Neal Pionk. Winnipeg's play on the man advantage was a weapon all of last season, when it finished as the league's top power play at 28.9 percent. It's at an even 20 percent so far this season, but is trying to break out of a 0-for-14 cold spell.

"It’s a little bit of everything. Win some battles, win some face-offs, for myself it’s getting some shots through and shot selection - working together as a five-man unit, then we’ll get some bounces going our way," said Pionk. "The coaches do a good job with the pre-scout. As players we have to execute. There were a few plays we could’ve done last game, including myself, whether to shoot it or whether not to shoot it. We’ll look for that tonight."

The Canucks can relate to the injury issues the Jets have been having this season. Their depth at centre has been tested to the highest degree already, leading them to acquire Lukas Reichel from the Chicago Blackhawks on October 23.

Currently on the injured list for the Canucks are Teddy Blueger, Filip Chytil, Derek Forbort, Nils Hoglander, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Victor Mancini, and Guillaume Brisebois. Goaltender Thatcher Demko, after not playing in any of Vancouver's last three games, will get the start for the Canucks.

Even with the injuries, Vancouver has put together a 2-1-1 record in their last four games with wins over Nashville and Columbus in that stretch.

The Jets will go through their usual pre-game preparations and video meetings to know what to expect from the Canucks under head coach Adam Foote, but they know the focus needs to be on themselves, their execution, and their structure.

“To a man, we can all be better,” said Schenn. “It boils down to execution. Whether you’re playing faster, getting your head up, maybe being able to make a play off the wall, the d-zone, the neutral zone, in the slot in the o-zone or low to high, whatever the play is, you’ve got to make the play and execute it.”

Puck drop is set for 9 pm CT.

ICE CHIPS

There was more progress on the injury front as Dylan Samberg participated in the morning skate in a regular jersey for the first time since his broken wrist in the preseason. Arniel says the defenceman won't play against Vancouver, as they want to give Samberg more practice time and physical contact before he sees game action.

Gustav Nyquist (lower body), who has missed the last four games, was also in a regular jersey after putting in his time in non-contact gold.

Cole Koepke, who Arniel says was injured when the was tripped by San Jose Sharks goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic on Friday, joined the morning skate in a non-contact jersey after the formal drills had concluded. Morgan Barron did the same, with Arniel saying that Barron's injury - initially deemed week-to-week - is progressing well and that the updated timeline looks to be more day-to-day.