LAS VEGAS \u2013 As he usually does, Winnipeg Jets captain Adam Lowry described his team\u2019s current situation perfectly.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur next three games need to be our three best of the year,\u201d he said Saturday night, just minutes after Winnipeg\u2019s tough 7-1 defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked about this internal optimism, this belief in our team that we were better than we played all year and coming out of the break, I feel like we’ve done a good job of putting together good stretches of hockey playing well against good teams,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that can’t change.\u201d<\/p>\n
The situation that lies ahead of the Jets (35-32-12) as they head out on the final road trip of the regular season \u2013 a two-game trek with stops in Vegas and Utah on back-to-back nights \u2013 is simple. The Jets trail Los Angeles by five points for the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference. With six points still on the table for Winnipeg to grab, it\u2019s still possible to catch the Kings, but the Jets would need help from the three remaining opponents on Los Angeles\u2019 schedule: Seattle, Vancouver, and Calgary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have three games left and we have a road trip here and all we can do is try and control what we can control and that is being ready to go against Vegas,\u201d said Josh Morrissey. \u201cThere are six possible points left. Can we get all six and see where the cards fall. That is all we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the Jets know they can only control the teams on their schedule. With no room for error, it can be a lot of pressure to carry.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the intensity caught you or if it\u2019s too much pressure, then you\u2019re in the wrong business,\u201d said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. \u201cThis time of the year, and the second half, this is what you play the game for, when you get put into these situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winnipeg didn\u2019t practice on Sunday, instead using it as a travel day ahead of the season\u2019s most crucial back-to-back set.<\/p>\n
Even though they weren\u2019t on the ice, the Jets recalled forwards Brayden Yager and Nikita Chibrikov from the Manitoba Moose under emergency conditions. The Moose have already clinched a playoff spot in the American Hockey League and had most recently defeated the Texas Stars \u00a05-4 in a shootout at Canada Life Centre on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Yager scored his 10th goal of the season in that victory and leads all Moose rookies in points with 30. As for Chibrikov, he started the 2025-26 campaign with the Jets and suited up in eight games before being loaned to the Moose. He has 16 points in 53 games this season.<\/p>\n
Any line-up modifications made by Arniel and the coaching staff will be evident at the team\u2019s morning skate at T-Mobile Arena on Monday. No matter how the line-up shakes out, the focus is on being more like the team that beat Vegas 4-1 back on March 24 than the one that fell to the Flyers on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys are going to have to find a way to have a mental reset and put our best foot forward on Monday,\u201d said Lowry. \u201cWe know the situation we’re in that, pretty much have to pick up every point the rest of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tonight marks the final game of the three-game season series between the Jets and Golden Knights (37-26-17). Winnipeg has earned three of a possible four points so far, but it could be said the Vegas team they\u2019ll play tonight will have a different feel than the one from late March.<\/p>\n
Of course, it was only six days after the Jets beat Vegas that the Golden Knights changed head coaches, bringing in veteran John Tortorella. Since the hiring, Vegas is 5-0-1 and are outscoring their opponents 23-12 \u2013 including a 3-2 overtime win in Colorado on Saturday.<\/p>\n
That victory clinched a playoff spot for Vegas, who are locked into a battle with Edmonton and Anaheim for top spot in the Pacific Division.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have worked so hard to get back in the mix. We knew we weren’t going to go 28, or however many games were left after the break and ‘zero’,\u201d Morrissey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have got to stick with it and we have to keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Puck drop is set for 9 pm CT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2013 As he usually does, Winnipeg Jets captain Adam Lowry described his team\u2019s current situation perfectly.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5121],"tags":[5,78,4,77,18,5288],"class_list":{"0":"post-551555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-winnipeg-jets","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-jets","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-winnipeg","12":"tag-winnipeg-jets","13":"tag-winnipegjets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116395722888044859","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}