WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Jets have been on the outside looking in for months.

A team that won the Presidents’ Trophy just one year ago has struggled to find traction throughout the season. But a strong week of practices towards the end of the Olympic break, paired with a deep drive to prove who they really are, has propelled the group forward and kept this team in the fight.

“We’ve talked about it all year – we still have an internal optimism and a belief in this group that, when we play the right way, when we have all hands on deck, we’re a tough team to beat,” Jets captain Adam Lowry said following the team’s 4-3 overtime win against Chicago on Tuesday. “I think we’ve proved it over the last month. We can beat some of the best teams in the league, and it’s just going to take more of that moving forward.”

Coming out of the Olympic break, the Jets were 11 points outside the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Since then, they have gone 10-4-4, picking up 24 of a possible 36 points.

As a result, they now sit just two points back of the Los Angeles Kings, who currently occupy the second wild-card spot.

“Obviously, we are not even close to being there yet, but we have erased a pretty big deficit, and that is a credit to every single guy in this room and the staff,” defenceman Josh Morrissey said after the win against the Blackhawks. “There is no quit in here, and we are going to fight right until the end.”

There hasn’t been just one player stepping up during this push, either.

The team’s top players have led the way. Kyle Connor and Morrissey are riding five-game point streaks, while Mark Scheifele has nine points in his past four games.

“We have been fighting, clawing, scratching to try to get closer and closer to the playoff line, and when it is all said and done, I think it is going to come right down to the wire,” Morrissey said.

There has also been a steadiness on the blueline through some turbulence.

Losing both Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn to the Buffalo Sabres at the trade deadline, along with injuries to Morrissey and Neal Pionk that kept them out for weeks, could have derailed the season even more. Instead, rookie defenceman Elias Salomonsson has emerged as a bright spot, stepping in and looking comfortable in an expanded role.

“We knew we had a young defenceman coming – we knew there was a player there,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said after morning skate on March 26. “It had to happen a lot faster this year than we thought, but credit to him. He’s the one who has taken advantage of it.”

Paired with Dylan Samberg for much of his time, the duo has been matched against some of the opposition’s top lines. Salomonsson is already averaging 18:15 of ice time through his first 31 NHL games.

“We knew his skill set was there – the hockey IQ, the skating, all of that,” added Arniel. “Like you see around the league, some young guys get an opportunity and take advantage of it. He’s done that.”

The race is tight, and the Jets need points just as badly as they need their opponents to lose.

Six teams remain in contention for the final playoff spot in the West. Los Angeles (78 points), San Jose (77), Nashville (77), Winnipeg (76), Seattle (75) and St. Louis (74) have traded positions in the standings on a nightly basis.

With just eight games remaining in the regular season for the Jets, it is truly anyone’s spot for the taking. Not to mention three of those eight games are against teams they’re battling with for playoff positioning – the Kraken on April 6, the Blues on April 9, and the Sharks to close out the regular season on April 16.

“We don’t have time to just squander points,” Lowry said. “We can’t have these letdowns where we play one great game and then come down and take a breath.”

“We are coming from behind – maybe teams in front of us feel the pressure, but we feel no pressure,” Morrissey added. “We are just going out there, competing and trying to show who we are and get back into the playoffs.”

The Jets face a Central Division opponent Thursday when they visit Dallas to take on the Stars. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. CT on TSN3.