The Golden Knights “didn’t have 20 guys that wanted to compete” in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets, right wing Jonathan Marchessault said.

They better hope that’s not the case for Game 2 at 7 p.m. Thursday at T-Mobile Arena. The Pacific Division champions and No. 1 seeds in the Western Conference will be in a lot of trouble if they open the postseason with two straight losses after falling 5-1 Tuesday.

The Knights have reason to be confident they can right the ship. They’re 4-1 in their history in Game 2 after losing Game 1 of a series. The one time they did fall behind 2-0, to Colorado in 2021, they won four straight.

A similar response should keep the series up for grabs. Higher seeds that split the first two home games advance 54.9 percent of the time. Lower seeds that start by winning two on the road move on 81 percent of the time.

“(We) just need a bounce-back game,” left wing Reilly Smith said. “It wasn’t the performance any of us wanted, but it’s one game and it’s a long series. Kind of wipe the slate clean and make sure we bring our best effort next game.”

Coach Bruce Cassidy said to not expect any surprises in the lineup.

That means goaltender Laurent Brossoit probably will be back in net after giving up four goals on 30 shots in the first playoff start of his career. It also indicates no skaters will go in or out after the Knights generated a season-low 17 shots on goal in Game 1.

Cassidy mixed his forward lines in search of a spark in the second period Tuesday, but switched back to normal for Wednesday’s practice.

“That’s what got us here,” Cassidy said. “There’s some loyalty to the players that got you this far.”

That puts the pressure on the Knights to simply execute better than they did Tuesday. They’re capable of doing so, and they’ve shown a tremendous amount of resiliency all season. The Knights haven’t lost consecutive games in regulation since Jan. 16 and 19.

“We’re never going to quit on anything,” Marchessault said.

The Jets don’t appear to be making any changes after defeating the Knights for the first time in four tries this season.

Left wing Morgan Barron is expected to play despite suffering a nasty cut Tuesday. Left wing Nikolaj Ehlers — Winnipeg’s sixth-leading scorer with 38 points in 45 games — probably will remain out with an upper-body injury.

The Jets, after playing their best defensive game of the season, according to defensemen Brenden Dillon, are prepared for a Knights’ pushback. They’ve seen it firsthand. Winnipeg won Game 1 of the 2018 Western Conference Final between the teams, then lost four straight.

“We know they’re going to be a lot better,” left wing Nino Niederreiter said. “They weren’t very sharp. The goals we scored, most of them, they gave us, so we know to expect a better Vegas. But we also know we’ve got better as well. Can’t be satisfied with the win we had.”

Knights vs. Jets

Game 2, 7 p.m., T-Mobile Arena

Jets lead best-of-seven series 1-0

Radio: KKGK (98.9 FM, 1340 AM)

Line: Knights -165; total 5½

Knights’ projected lineup:

Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Jonathan Marchessault

Reilly Smith — William Karlsson — Phil Kessel

Michael Amadio — Chandler Stephenson — Mark Stone

Brett Howden — Nicolas Roy — Keegan Kolesar

Alec Martinez — Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore

Nic Hague — Zach Whitecloud

Laurent Brossoit

Jets’ projected lineup:

Kyle Connor — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Mark Scheifele

Nino Niederreiter — Vladislav Namestnikov — Blake Wheeler

Morgan Barron — Adam Lowry — Mason Appleton

David Gustafsson — Kevin Stenlund — Saku Maenalanen

Josh Morrissey — Dylan DeMelo

Brenden Dillon — Neal Pionk

Dylan Samberg — Nate Schmidt