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Confident Ehlers playing his best hockey for Jets in early going

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Throughout his first five seasons with the Winnipeg Jets, winger Nikolaj Ehlers always showed blazing speed, a strong understanding of the game and flashes of brilliance, but you always had the sense that there was something even more dynamic to come.

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So far this season, Ehlers has taken all of his hockey attributes to a new level.

The 24-year-old from Denmark is playing his best hockey through six Jets games so far and it’s not just about his impressive offensive numbers — four goals and three assists.

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Ehlers is showing tremendous confidence in handling the puck, in backing down defenders as he makes zone entries at high speed, in trying creative things to make passes, in diving to get his stick on pucks at both ends, in finding a scoring touch.

His linemate, veteran centre Paul Stastny, believes it can be traced back to last summer, when Ehlers finally scored a couple of playoff goals after going scoreless in 22 previous post-season appearances.

“One thing is he had a good playoff, he finally scored, and he got to relax a little bit,” Stasnty said Monday.

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“That might help a guy take a step to the next level. There’s little things like that in a game or in the off-season, that happen as you’re maturing and getting older and they just give you a little extra confidence. He came into camp from Day 1 just happy to be here and excited.

“He’s hard on himself, saying he should have made a better play or whatever, and he’s constantly trying to work on improving those little aspects of his game that maybe he’s not known for.”

Ehlers scored the game-winner in Game 2 of the Jets play-in round series against the Calgary Flames last August and then got the opening goal of Game 3.

Though the Jets lost the series three games to one, it was a bit of a breakout for Ehlers, who simply could not find the net for the longest time in the biggest games.

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“He’s been around for a while, but he’s still young and a lot of people forget that,” Stastny said. “Everyone’s hard on guys but these kids are still developing and still getting better. I think there used to be a time when everyone thought you would peak at 26 or 27 and now, with science and the way the guys train and develop, they come in at an earlier age and they just keep getting better every year, doing little things.

“That’s what the top guys do. They know their strengths and they want to work on other things that will make them a better overall player. You can see that with Fly. On practice days or off days he’s always trying to pick people’s brains to make himself better.”

Jets coach Paul Maurice said Monday he 100% agreed that Ehlers is playing his best hockey right now and that’s exactly what he expected out of him.

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“Now we’re getting to a level of consistency with him,” Maurice said. “And then maturity and strength, right? He’s starting to learn how to be a really good pro.”

As an example, Maurice held up the fact that Ehlers was one of only a handful of players who took part in an optional practice on Monday.

The Jets, who play the Oilers again on Tuesday night, were just coming off games on back-to-back nights and had just played three in four nights and five in seven nights.

While many veterans took the day to rest up and heal bumps and bruises, Ehlers was out there working on his craft on Monday.

“He was sick about a week and a half ago,” Maurice said. “But he’s on the ice today That’s maybe a small thing but it goes to the question: What is it that his body needs to be good?

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“And that’s part of that maturity, when you can get your mind focused on the game, the next game. And from the last game to the next game you’re doing all the things you need to do to be really good. We find that in mature players.”

For his part, Ehlers wasn’t too interested in talking about himself.

Asked what is working so well during a stretch in which he has scored a goal in each of the last four games, he brought up his linemates, Stastny and Andrew Copp.

“I’m playing with two guys that are great,” Ehlers said. “They’re really smart players. They’re able to hold the puck in the O-zone and make a pass like (Stastny) did (Sunday on my goal), so that makes it easier too.”

“I feel good. I think the last three games I’ve really been able to use my speed in the right moments. I’ve been trying to shoot the puck a little more too.”

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There’s no doubt it was a tough weekend for Ehlers. His best friend on the team, Patrik Laine, was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

Ehlers took it like a pro and went out and had two great games, recording a goal and an assist in a win over the Ottawa Senators and a third-period game-tying goal in a heart-breaking, last-second loss to the Oilers on Sunday.

His teammates are certainly taking notice.

“He’s been fantastic,” Jets centre Mark Scheifele said. “Ever since he got here, he’s been pushing himself more and more every day. That’s what we love to see. — a guy who comes to the rink every single day and puts his best foot forward.

“He’s been driving, he’s been in all the right areas. He’s doing everything that we want him to do and more. We definitely look to him for offensive spark. He’s got so much speed, so much skill. We need him, on this team, to do that in order to be successful.”

Twyman@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/Ted_Wyman

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