Morning Skate Report: Jets vs Penguins

WINNIPEG - For just the second time this season, the Winnipeg Jets will take on an opponent from the Eastern Conference as they host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Canada Life Centre.
In fact, the Jets will only see a team from the East six times in the first 25 games on the schedule.
But head coach Paul Maurice has seen what the Penguins are capable of. He only had to look back at Pittsburgh's consecutive shutouts this week over Montreal and Toronto.
"They play at a really high intensity level and they're on the puck," said Maurice. "That would be a term that we use in our locker room a lot and I think we're still trying to get there. I think that even our last three games, I've liked us on the puck."

That translates to a lot of speed up and down the ice.
"I don't think you're going to see a lot of bodies turning away from the puck to create motion," Maurice said. "It's not going to be a flow game. It will be very, very fast and it will be direct."
A speed game suits Nikolaj Ehlers and the Jets just fine. Ehlers has goals in three straight games and has a five-game point streak coming into the night.
It's a sign that he's fully recovered from a non-COVID related illness and, as Maurice revealed after Sunday's practice, a minor groin injury that kept the speedy forward from being 100 percent earlier in the season.
Along with speed though, Ehlers knows there won't be any easy ice against the Penguins.
"They've gotten some new players since we've played them last," said Ehlers. "Obviously they've got Sid back, but they're a very skilled team. I think they do have some grit to them, and their young guys that can skate really well so it's going to be an exciting game. We need to bounce back so it's going to be fun."
The Jets (9-4-4) won't make any changes to their line-up - outside of Connor Hellebuyck starting in goal for Eric Comrie, who played in the team's last outing in Vancouver.
The lines are expected to look like this:
Copp-Scheifele-Ehlers
Connor-Dubois-Wheeler
Harkins-Lowry-Svechnikov
Toninato-Nash-Vesalainen
Morrissey-Schmidt
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-DeMelo
That means that Paul Stastny will miss a seventh consecutive game with a foot injury sustained on November 6 against the New York Islanders.
Coincidentally, that was the only other time the Jets have played an Eastern Conference opponent this season.
The veteran forward skated while the Jets were on the road, and skated yet again this morning - about 90 minutes prior to the formal morning skate.
"The word 'good' came out. So we're hanging on that," Maurice said. "He'll skate again tomorrow and we expect to bring him on the trip."
An area of focus tonight for the Jets will be getting back in the win column after a 3-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday.
The Jets gave up two goals on the penalty kill and while the power play didn't have the chance to operate (as the Jets didn't get any power plays), Winnipeg has only scored once on the man advantage in the last seven games.
The challenge doesn't get any easier, as the Penguins penalty kill is tops in the NHL (at 89.1 percent). However, their power play's 11.5 percent rate is 32nd in the league.
A healthy Sidney Crosby will certainly help that power play number, though.

He's played in five games this season and has a goal and an assist. His return also means the Penguins have their top centre back in the line-up.
It's something Maurice has to consider when thinking about line match-ups.
"We have three centremen that I'll run against the other team's best. I may just not do it all night long," said Maurice, who used the Edmonton Oilers home-and-home set as an example.
"Whether Draisaitl was coming over or McDavid was coming, he was either getting Dubois or Scheifele. But even in that, their shift length is longer than ours," Maurice said. "So, Lowry is getting him, too. So, I haven't washed it; it's harder with our pairs of defence. But even there, we've got kind of a more physical pairing and a more speed-based pairing, and we'll try to make a decision before the game what we think will match up the best."
Puck drop is set for 7:30 pm CT.