The Winnipeg Jets are preparing for the most important road trip of the season.
The playoff-bound Winnipeg Jets are preparing to begin the most important road trip of the 2023-24 season.
Some might argue that the trip began on Friday, as the Jets actually played their first of four-straight road games on Saturday afternoon.
Head coach Rick Bowness, however, would not be one to call it a four-game trip. He ensured that the team travelled back home following the Saturday afternoon tilt, where it would remain until heading out for the Tuesday night affair in Nashville.
Partying it up in Music City for three days was not an option.
“It’s one and three," Bowness said. "We didn’t want the guys going into Nashville too early.”
So, for Bowness and anyone else who cares, it is a one-game road trip, followed by a three-game road trip - with a two-night stay in Winnipeg separating the two.
At this point in the season, getting full rest at home in the friendly confines of the now balmy city of Winnipeg is as important as anything with the postseason looming just a week-and-a-half away.
The team has since arrived in Nashville and is set for the second of four-straight road tests against the Central Division.
With the red-hot Predators first in line, Winnipeg will then shift to Dallas and Colorado, where it will have the chance to reposition itself in the league's final standings.
How much? Well, it will all be up to the 20 playing members of the squad and their level of play over the next week.
“It would be nice to get home-ice advantage, there’s no question about it," Bowness said. "But the most important thing we’re focusing on is the details of the game, the situations that arise from the game, within the game, that determine the outcome of it. Those are the things we’re putting a lot of our focus on. If we get home ice, great. If not, then it’s just as important that we’re playing our game and comfortable with our game at that point.”
Currently, the Jets sit third in the Central Division behind Dallas (107 points in 78 games) and Colorado (102 points in 78 games).
Winnipeg has played 77 times this year and has the chance to leapfrog the Avalanche on Tuesday night. Nashville, however, is nipping at the Jets' heels with 94 points in 78 games.
Unlikely to catch the Stars, odds are that Winnipeg will square off with Colorado in the postseason's opening round. Where exactly the two teams finish will dictate who starts at home.
“I think the likelihood is we are going to play them," captain Adam Lowry said. "Obviously, you’d like to start at home. But we know we have a game against them coming up. I’ve said this before, whether we start at home or on the road, it’s about being confident in our game and having our game look and feel as close to that stretch as we can, and that’s what we’re working towards."
The Avalanche face Minnesota, Winnipeg, Vegas and Edmonton to close out their season, while the Jets see the Predators, the Avalanche, the Stars, Seattle and Vancouver before the year is over.
"Whether we’re able to catch them or not, it’s about being sure that come Game 1 we are ready to go, and we’re not still searching for our game," Lowry added. "That’s what these last ones are going to be about, the last six here. Firing on all cylinders, having complete efforts, being really sharp so that when playoffs come, whether it’s the Avalanche, who whomever we get - it’s most likely the Avalanche - we will be ready to go.”
With serious playoff implications on the line, the team knows exactly what's at stake, and where they'd like to play.
“That’s why you play the 82 games, to be able to get whatever attempted matchups you want to get, play in front of your fans, be in your home, in your bed. There’s a comfortability to it,” defenceman Brenden Dillon said.
“In a seven-game series, you’re going to have to learn how to win on the road anyways. We’re comfortable in whatever situation we have to be in. But home ice, I think we’ve played really well here; we’re comfortable here where you’ve got all your facilities.”.
The Jets will face off against the Predators at 7:00 PM central time from Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night. All of Winnipeg's remaining games will be broadcast live on TSN.