Jets hoping to make the most of one-game stop in Winnipeg

WINNIPEG - Over the last five days, the Winnipeg Jets have begun their day in a different time zone four times.
They closed out a home stand in the Central Time Zone, played games on back-to-back nights in the Mountain and Pacific Time zones, then flew back home to the Central on Saturday.
That's life in the Central Division, though, and it's something the players and head coach Paul Maurice are always monitoring.
"You'll get teams on the East coast that will be in their time zone for weeks on end. Then it's an in and out. They talk about a tough trip out west. We did that every weekend for the last three weeks," said Maurice.
"I spent a big bulk of my career on the east coast without an appreciation for it. You get here and you learn."

The Jets hit the ice for practice on Sunday and put in a 30-minute session at Bell MTS Iceplex. The stop back in Winnipeg will be short, as the Jets will host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Canada Life Centre on Monday before getting right back on the plane for a three-game road trip that begins on Wednesday.
Yes, that will be another time zone change.
But Maurice and his team can only handle the day in front of them, and the head coach liked what he saw from the group on Sunday.
"We moved really good today, better than I thought we would, based on the time zone change," he said. "These guys are good pros, it's only an hour at a time which seems to help a little bit. It's cumulative for sure. You're aware of it."

There were no changes to the line rushes on Sunday:
Copp-Scheifele-Ehlers
Connor-Dubois-Wheeler
Harkins-Lowry-Svechnikov
Toninato-Nash-Vesalainen
Morrissey-Schmidt
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-DeMelo
Beaulieu
Special teams wasn't on the agenda on Sunday, but it's still top of mind for the Jets as they prepare for the Penguins.
Winnipeg's PK gave up two goals against the Canucks, the sixth time this season that the Jets have allowed multiple power play goals against this season.
"We gave up 10 in our first five games, which is an incredible number. We're probably never digging out of that number to have a good one this year," said Maurice. "We gave up three 5-on-4 in our next 11 games, which is a darn good PK. Then we gave up two the other night on ones we don't like. It's certainly an area we want to get a little better at."
Andrew Copp's average of 2:24 of shorthanded ice time per game leads all Jets forwards. He believes it comes down to confidence and being aggressive.
"If you're not confident in going out there with a certain level of confidence and swagger, you might be slower," Copp said. "You don't want to make a mistake, but you make a mistake by being slower. The hesitation has to come out (of your game)."

There is a balance when it comes to pressuring the opposition's power play as well. Copp felt the Jets did well in that department on Friday in Vancouver, but the Canucks still found a way to capitalize, resulting in Conor Garland's eventual game-winner.
"There were a lot of good pressure points, but the one play that was made (led to the goal)," Copp said. "There were a lot of good things, but we've got to get that last 10 per cent to clean up and then we should be good from there."
Copp has seen improvement in other areas on the PK, like face-offs and standing the opposition up at the line to prevent entries. Dylan DeMelo has seen that as well, so while there is improvement, the Jets defenceman says the group can't get frustrated.
"We have to control what we can control. Sometimes you do everything right and they still score," DeMelo said. "We have to be confident in our reads and our pressure and kind of believing in what we've got to do, all four guys need to pull the same way. Just continue to work on it, not get frustrating and just keep staying with it."
Their next opponent, the Pittsburgh Penguins, have the lowest ranked power play in the NHL, but come into Winnipeg with confidence. They've earned shutout victories over Montreal and Toronto and close out a three-game road trip against the Jets on Monday.
"I thought they earned it," Maurice said. "That was a right game by them. Their goaltender has to be good to get a shutout in the NHL, he's been really good. They're right on pucks. There isn't any cheat in their game. They're playing hard."
ICE CHIPS
Paul Stastny, who has been injured since taking a puck off the foot on November 6, didn't skate with the Jets on Sunday but was on the ice in Winnipeg while the Jets were on the road.
Maurice said the forward will skate tomorrow.
"Hopefully that's the start of him coming back," he said. "I think once he gets back on the ice I don't think it's very long after that up to the conditioning part of it. They're pretty comfortable that they've been able to do enough to keep him not far off it."