DALLAS – Two of the Central Division’s best will face off tonight at American Airlines Center when the Winnipeg Jets open a two-game road trip against the Dallas Stars.
The Jets (53-21-4) hold a four-point lead over the Stars (50-22-6) for top spot in the Central, making the two points on the line tonight – especially with four games remaining for both teams – especially important in that division race.
Both teams have stellar records against divisional opponents (Winnipeg is 17-7-0 while Dallas is 15-5-3) and in the season series, the home team has held serve in all three match-ups. The Jets earned a pair of 4-1 victories at Canada Life Centre, while the Stars picked up a 3-1 win in early December in Texas.
Winnipeg will be looking to change that trend in the season series, and will be riding the momentum from the 3-1 win over St. Louis on Monday, a decision that saw the Blues’ 12-game win streak come to an end.
Dallas is winless in their last three (0-1-2) but also put together a seven-game win streak shortly before that. Needless to say, the Jets will be preparing for a response from the Stars, who dropped a 6-5 overtime decision to Vancouver on Tuesday.
“When it comes to the Central, it could be in November, it could be in December, it could be tomorrow night, but they're all playoff type battles,” said head coach Scott Arniel. “Everybody knows the importance. They know the importance and they talk about the same type of thing about having to be good in the Central to have any kind of success."
Neal Pionk – who has missed the last 12 games, including the most recent one against Dallas back in March – is a game-time decision after dealing with a lower-body injury. He was a full participant in practice on Wednesday, including taking his normal role on one of the team’s power play units.
“We were in a good position and it was significant enough for me to take some time off to let it heal before the playoffs. That’s kind of where I’m at right now, on a day-to-day basis,” said Pionk after Wednesday’s practice. “Leave it up to (Scott Arniel). It’s his decision at the end of the day. I feel good, I’m ready to play and we’ll see what (Thursday) brings.”
Nikolaj Ehlers, also listed as a game-time decision, took part in the morning skate in Dallas. That doesn't necessarily guarantee his availability however, as he skated in Monday’s morning skate before ultimately being scratched before warm-up. The speedy forward has missed the last two games after two blocks against the Vegas Golden Knights on April 3.
The full line rushes at the morning skate looked like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Ehlers-Namestnikov-Perfetti
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Tanev-Barron-Anderson-Dolan
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Schenn
Fleury/Heinola-Miller
Adam Lowry, who potted an empty netter in the win over the Blues and set a new career high for goals with 16, wants to see his team bring the same energy level it had against St. Louis into Dallas.
“We've talked about it in here, where you come out, you have a great game against great teams, and then you kind of take a deep breath, and there's a bit of a letdown. It's about stringing them together,” Lowry said. “It's another game that should be easy to get up for. We're excited. It's going to be playoff style. They're a team that's really ramping up near the end too, and we're all fighting for positions, so it'll be important when you get off to a similar start to last game.”
Even though all three games between the Jets and Stars have been decided by multiple goals, the Jets aren’t expecting a game where the two sides trade chances.
No, patience will be a virtue. Especially with both teams being inside the National Hockey League’s top four when it comes to average goals-against per game (Winnipeg has allowed the fewest at 2.32, Dallas is fourth on that list at 2.59).
When the opportunities present themselves, the game will come down to which team takes advantage of those moments.
“(It’s) knowing that it is going to be a tight contest, there might not be a lot of space but just being comfortable in that,” said Lowry. “Just winning your matchups, whomever you are out there on the ice against and whoever you are lined up against head-to-head, that is what we
talk about: each line wins their matchups we are in a good spot.”
Puck drop is set for 7 pm CT.
