The Tampa Bay Lightning face the reeling Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night (7 p.m. Eastern) at Tampa’s Benchmark International Arena.

The Lightning (7-3-1) return to the ice after a four-day layoff between games. Winnipeg (4-5-3), still sorting things out after trading three-time Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck to the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 23, has lost six in a row, including two in overtime.

Winnipeg’s goaltending situation is one of the key factors in tonight’s game.

Take Advantage of the Chaos

The Jets just traded their franchise goalie to the Devils for forward Dawson Mercer, goalie Nico Daws, injured veteran Nick Bjugstad, and prospect Alexander Command, plus two future draft picks.

The Hellebuyck saga dragged the Jets down in recent months. Even dating to last season, when Winnipeg missed the playoffs after a three-year streak of qualifying for the postseason, many teams had kept an eye on the veteran goalie for possible trades.

Now the Jets know that Stuart Skinner is officially their guy. In a small sample of eight starts this season, Skinner has put up decent stats, with a .911 save percentage and 2.72 goals-against average. But Winnipeg relied so much on Hellebuyck for so long, it’s hard to imagine that they’re emotionally settled after dealing their ace.

Sort Out the Grittiest Line

The Bolts will be without forward Zemgus Girgensons tonight, meaning that coach Jon Cooper had to find a new partner on the checking line for Pontus Holmberg. Ed Encina of the Tampa Bay Times reported that Dominic James will be back in the lineup, with Girgensons out tonight and likely for Saturday’s afternoon game at Nashville.

Girgensons and Holmberg have been on a line together pretty much constantly for the past two seasons, with the combo providing plenty of grit along with a bit of scoring.

Last season Girgensons, 33, had 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists), the most for him in a season since 2014-15, when he was named to the All-Star Game as a Buffalo Sabre on his way to a 30-point campaign. He also had by far the most hits on the team (195), setting a career high. This season, Girgensons has vastly improved his faceoff prowess, winning 57.1% — 80 out of 140 — of his battles in the dot. That’s on pace for his career best.

Keep Jets Offense Cold

Tampa Bay has allowed a middling 3.09 goals per game so far, with Colorado and Utah lighting up the Lightning for six and five goals, respectively, in the past two games. But Winnipeg has been much worse on offense than Tampa Bay has been on defense. The Jets are averaging 2.33 goals per game; only the Blackhawks (2.17 goals per game) and Flyers (1.93) are weaker.

Part of the problem for coach Scott Arniel’s bunch has been a 45.2% mark on faceoffs, better than only Chicago’s 42.7% rate. Tampa Bay is rarely very good in faceoff stats but the team’s current 48.5% rate is still better than Winnipeg’s. Two-time Selke Award finalist Anthony Cirelli has won 51% of his faceoffs this season and he will be especially key in his penalty-killing role if Tampa Bay wants to keep Winnipeg, which is 0-for-14 on power plays over its past five games, struggling with the man advantage.