The NHL’s return to Winnipeg has been an instant success in the seats Rickard Rakell Jersey , with regular sellouts since the Jets arrived in 2011 for a second landing in the smallest market in the league.Progress on the ice has been measurably slower, with just one appearance in the playoffs in the first six years in wintry Manitoba after a struggling franchise moved north from Atlanta, but the patience of general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has been rewarded and then some this season.Sporting the second-best record in the NHL, the Jets have carried the momentum of 11 wins in their last 12 games into their first-round series against Minnesota.They boast one of the game’s coveted prodigies in 19-year-old Patrik Laine and his 44 goals. They have a balanced roster that ranked second in the league in scoring and fifth in fewest goals against. They face the Wild on Wednesday night at home, where they’re an NHL-best 32-7-2 this season.”Enjoy it, right?” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. ”We work real hard to get to a place where there’s mounting pressure and mounting enthusiasm, and then we want to keep working to get to more and more and more. So you have to be a part of it. You have to enjoy it for sure.”Their time to take a big step forward to join the league’s elite has arrived. They even, considering their seed, represent the best hope to bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time since 1993.Toronto is the only other team that made the playoffs this year, and the Maple Leafs must start the first round on the road against the Boston Bruins.”You don’t know how many times you’re going to come across this opportunity,” goalie Connor Hellebuyck said, ”and especially now with the great team like we have here. I’m really excited to see what these guys bring.”With another series of ”Whiteout ” events planned for Bell MTS Place, with fans encouraged to wear white team gear to the arena and surrounding parties, the city has been buzzing all week even as winter again overstays its welcome.”I’m very excited. I can start feeling my body getting those butterflies,” Hellebuyck said.The knock against the Jets is the collective lack of postseason experience, with a four-game sweep by the Anaheim Ducks in 2015 serving as the only action in the playoffs for some of these players. Laine hadn’t even been drafted yet.That’s where the Wild have a clear advantage, with this their sixth straight appearance in the 16-team tournament.Though they were overshadowed in the Western Conference this season by the Jets, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Nashville Predators and the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, the Wild posted the third-best record in franchise history. Center Eric Staal had 42 goals, his most in 12 years. Jason Zucker scored a career-high 33 goals. Their defensemen ranked second in the league with 200 points.”You really got to go through it to know what it’s about,” left wing Zach Parise said, adding: ”I know they’ve been short-lived the last couple years, but you hope with just being there that will help us.”Here are some other key angles to follow with the series:PALS IN PADSHellebuyck and Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk met last summer in British Columbia during training sessions and rounds of golf that forged a friendship, with Dubnyk encouraging Hellebuyck to keep his head up after the Jets signed Steve Mason to an $8.2 million contract.Sure enough, Mason stumbled early and Hellebuyck supplanted him as the primary netminder to tie for the NHL lead with 44 wins and finish eighth in goals-against average.”It’s been fun to watch but that’s enough now,” Dubnyk said. ”It’s been a great year for him, but I’ll stop cheering for him now.”SUTER OUT, SPURGEON INOne of the Wild’s greatest assets for this matchup will be absent, with a season-ending broken ankle for stalwart Ryan Suter, who tied a franchise defenseman record with 51 points in 78 games.The upside is that Jared Spurgeon, who missed the last 17 games with a torn hamstring, is on track to return. He practiced with one of the two power-play units on Tuesday Ryan Getzlaf Jersey , and coach Bruce Boudreau said he’d make a game-time decision about Spurgeon’s availability on Wednesday.WHEELS UPJets captain Blake Wheeler tied for the NHL lead with 68 assists this season and finished ninth with 91 points, fueling a potent first line with Kyle Connor and Mark Schiefele to take some of the scoring pressure off Laine.Wheeler played at Breck High School in the Twin Cities area and in college for Minnesota before turning pro. He has never missed more than three games in any regular season since his debut with Boston in 2008-09.CULLEN’S CUPSWild center Matt Cullen contributed a modest 11 goals and 11 assists from the fourth line, but the 41-year-old’s contribution transcends points. He’s played in 123 postseason games, winning three Stanley Cups including the past two with the Pittsburgh Penguins.”This is why we got him, his experience in positions like we’re in right now,” Boudreau said. ”So we’re hoping he’s going to be valuable.”— LAS VEGAS (AP) The Vegas Golden Knights figured they might get something special by crossing a respected goaltending coach with an accomplished goaltender.Dave Prior and Marc-Andre Fleury are making quite the pair for the historically successful expansion team.Fleury, a three-time Stanley Cup champion goalie, brought a wealth of experience when he was selected during last year’s expansion draft. He’s aiming for a fourth Cup as Vegas returns home from Winnipeg tied 1-1 in the Western Conference final – Game 3 is Wednesday night.He has hit it off with Prior, Vegas’ goaltending coach who has helped the 13-year veteran pick up some new tricks.”He’s a great man,” Fleury said. ”I think it shows, he’s been around for a long time. So much experience, he’s seen a lot of goalies, guys I grew up watching and liking, and he’s coached them. I think he’s somebody that wants me to trust in my ability to do things.”Prior has an old-school approach compared with many current goalie coaches. He thought Fleury would fit with his preferred style and insisted general manager George McPhee target the goalie when Pittsburgh left him unprotected for last year’s draft.”He obviously studies goaltenders all around the league and looks at the way that they’re playing the game,” McPhee said. ”He was excited, and he really advocated for him in our meetings and thought that he could make him even better than he’s been.”Said Prior: ”When you have somebody who’s as gifted as Marc is, it’s trying to keep him playing to his potential all the time. He’s not a backup goaltender. He’s not past his `best before’ date. He still has the capability of playing great.”Prior, of course, was right. Fleury finished this regular season with a 2.24 goals-against average and .927 save percentage – both career bests – as Vegas had by far the best expansion season in league history. The veteran also boasts career-best postseason numbers in both categories, with a 1.68 GAA and .945 save percentage through 12 games.Prior and Fleury have been cryptic about whatever adjustments they’ve made to Fleury’s game. What Prior will divulge is that he believes once a goalie buys into his way of training, his confidence level increases and he begins to feel more productive in the net.”I encourage a very strategic goal game that we’re trying to make it very hard for the shooters, not just trying to have all the answers for the shooter’s shot,” Prior said. ”Marc is a bit secretive about it, but you have to have a lot of talent to play … it’s a difficult way to play the way I ask our goaltenders to play. I didn’t know how Marc would respond because he’s an older goaltender, and they usually are sort of set in their ways and harder for them to make adjustments. But he’s been great and engaging in embracing this strategy.”Fleury said Prior has him spending less time worrying about giving up goals in practice and spending less time on the ice before games. Prior doesn’t need Fleury working as hard as possible if he’s working correctly.”Goaltending plays games with your mind,” Prior said. ”When you feel like you can’t stop a puck in practice, you’re worried that’s what’s gonna be showing up in the game. It plays on your mind. Guys always felt `I gotta work, I’ve gotta do everything to make sure I’m gonna be good.’”Focus on the execution, not worry about `How hard I have to work to give me the best chance to be good,”’ Prior added. ”I (prefer) you work less but are correct. It pays dividends when you play the game.”—