Illegal Curve Hockey » Pre-Game-Report

Game Day Preview: Jets vs. Blue Jackets

Ezra Ginsburg — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:00:27 +0000

Download a PDF of a “Line-Up Card” for tonight’s game. Perfect for following the players live from the MTS Centre or from the comfort of your own home.

When: Tuesday, September 20, 2011- Split squad game in Columbus starts at 6:00 p.m. CST, Split squad game in Winnipeg starts at 7:30 p.m. CST

Where: MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio

Records: Winnipeg (0-0-0), Columbus (0-0-0)

The Story: The Winnipeg Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets kick off their NHL pre-season schedules with two split squad games tonight, one in Winnipeg and one in Columbus.

For the Winnipeg Jets, the home game will be their first pre-season game since 1995 and the first chance hockey fans will have to see their recently relocated team play at the MTS Centre, the former home of the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

The Jets currently have 65 players in training camp, and will dress 20 players for each of their first two pre-season games. The Jets will play seven pre-season games in total, including three at the MTS Centre; Wednesday, September 28th against the Carolina Hurricanes and Friday, September 30th against the Nashville Predators. The Jets next game will be on the road versus the Nashville Predators on Saturday, September 24th.

For tonight’s home game, notable starters for the Jets will include Captain Andrew Ladd, 1st Round Draft Pick Mark Scheifele, top defensemen Zach Bogosian and Dustin Byfuglien and Number-1 goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. For the away game, notable starters for the Jets will be forwards Evander Kane, Blake Wheeler and Carl Klingberg, defensemen Ron Hainsey and Randy Jones and goaltender Chris Mason. Top defenseman Tobias Enstrom, centre Bryan Little and recent acquisition Kyle Wellwood will not dress in either game for the Jets.

Here are the complete rosters with projected line combinations for Columbus, courtesy of Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch. Based upon practice, we have no idea what exactly the Jets lines will be, but I have posted a list of the split-squad lineup based upon their positions and possible combinations. Upon finding out the actual lines for tonight’s game, we will post them immediately on IC. Update: Lines from today’s pre-game skate as posted by @SaraOrlesky:

Home game at MTS Centre

Winnipeg Jets Roster

Goal
Ondrej Pavelec
David Aebischer

Defencemen
Zach Bogosian- Mark Stuart
Dustin Byfuglien- Paul Postma
Arturs Kulda- Brett Festerling

Forwards
Andrew Ladd –Nikolai Antropov-Janne Pesonen
Jason Gregoire-Alexander Burmistrov -Shayne Wiebe
Ben Maxwell -Mark Scheifele-Kevin Clark
Ivan Telegin-Patrice Cormier- Troy Bodie

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster

Goal
Curtis Sanford
Allen York

Defencemen
Kris Russell- Dalton Prout
Grant Clitsome- Cody Goloubef
Aaron Johnson- Austin Madaisky

Forwards
Matt Calvert- Derick Brassard- Tomas Kubalik
Alexandre Giroux- Ryan Johansen- Derek Dorsett
Ryan Russell- Derek MacKenzie- Aaron Bogosian
Dane Byers- Martin St.Pierre- Cody Bass

Away game at Nationwide Arena

Winnipeg Jets Roster

Goal
Chris Mason
Peter Maninno

Defencemen
Ron Hainsey- Mark Flood
Randy Jones- Derek Meech
Travis Ramsey- Zach Redmond

Forwards
Evander Kane- Jason Jaffray- Blake Wheeler
Carl Klingberg- Tim Stapleton- Spencer Machacek
Tanner Glass- Jim Slater- Chris Thorburn
Riley Holzapfel- John Albert- Kenndal McArdle

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster

Goal
Mark Dekanich
Paul Dainton

Defencemen
John Moore- James Wisniewski
Marc Methot- David Savard
Nick Holden- Radek Martinek

Forwards
Vaclav Prospal- Antoine Vermette- R.J. Umberger
Maksim Mayorov- Sami Pahlsson- Jared Boll
Oliver Gabriel- Michael Chaput- Cam Atkinson
Dalton Smith- Boone Jenner- Lukas Sedlak

Game Notes:

……Columbus Blue Jackets superstar Rick Nash will not play in either game tonight……And remember to return to illegalcurve.com to participate in our game day chat led by IC’s Michael Remis.

Tonight’s storylines

Richard Pollock — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:19:42 +0000

There are only two games on the schedule tonight. In fact, the schedule is fairly light until Thursday, but here are tonight’s contests:

New York Rangers at New Jersey Devils

These teams don’t like each other and never have. Tonight’s game marks the second of the season for the Devils, after the team was dominated by Philadelphia on Saturday night in Jacques Lemaire’s return to Jersey. Needless to say, Martin Brodeur wasn’t at his best in the team’s first game (he allowed five goals) and said in the morning papers that he was looking to change a thing or two about his positioning after the opening night loss.

The Rangers started the season by getting defeated in Pittsburgh but then returned the next night and beat Ottawa in the team’s home opener. In positive news, Marian Gaborik looks healthy and motivated, so the Rangers are going to try and ride the Gaborik train as long as they can.

Columbus Blue Jackets at Vancouver Canucks

Well, some are already calling this game a “must-win” for the Canucks. First off, that is absurd, as it is the third game of the season. Regardless, the Canucks started poorly in Calgary on Thursday and only really started playing in the second half of the game. Unfortunately for Alain Vigneault and company, his team didn’t fare much better in Colorado on Saturday afternoon and the team is faced with an 0-2 record. While there shouldn’t be panic in B.C., Vigneault hasn’t wasted any time calling out his non-Sedin lines. Something tells me the Canucks will be mighty motivated tonight.

As for Columbus, this is a team that defeated the Wild 2-1 on Saturday and is a confident bunch. Unfortunately for Ken Hitchcock and company, the Jackets play three straight home openers starting with tonight in Vancouver. That said, Hitchcock will have his much improved team ready to roll. Expect a higher scoring affair than in the team’s first game of the season.

Vancouver Canucks – St. Louis Blues Playoff Preview

Drew Mindell — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:27:22 +0000

Season Series- Two wins – Two losses per team

Can you feel that boulder on your shoulders, Vancouver Canucks players? Those are the expectations’ of the city of Vancouver and province of British Columbia, as by capturing the number 3 seed, you are now expected to have a lengthy playoff run. Contrast that with the St. Louis Blues, who have no expectations, as they were expected to contend for the John Tavares sweepstakes at the beginning of the season.

Let’s break this series down:

Goaltending:

The Canucks are led by arguably the best goaltender in the NHL, Roberto Luongo. With Luongo having suffered a mid-season injury, he is now more rested than he normally is entering this part of the season. His 54 games played are his fewest since the 2003-04 season, but his wins (33), save percentage (.920) and goals against average (2.34) are prototypical Luongo

The Blues counter Luongo’s experience with “un-tested in the playoffs”, Chris Mason. Since starting the season 3-13-1, he has gone 17-6-3 and been one of the best goalies in the 2^nd half of the season. He has a comparable save percentage to Luongo (.916) and a goals against average of (2.41).

Edge: Vancouver

Defense:

As if having one of the best goaltenders of his era in nets wasn’t enough, the Canucks boast a defensive corps with impressive depth. Led by Kevin Bieksa and Alexander Edler, the Canucks had 5 defenseman with at least 20 points. Lest you be concerned with Edler and Bieksa’s youth, veterans Sami Salo and Mattias Ohlund should off-set whatever nerves the young players may have.

If the defenseman that the St. Louis Blues anticipated opening the season with, were actually available, than they might be able to compare positively with the Canucks. Unfortunately, the Blues troubles on the back-end began with Erik Johnson tearing up his knee in the off-season, and were only compounded with Eric Brewer’s season ending injury. Since then, the Blues patchwork defense led by Barret Jackman, and Carlo Colaiacovo, have done a yeoman’s job. While not flashy, and not especially offensive minded, they pride themselves on making a strong first pass, and defensive responsibility

Edge: Vancouver

Forwards:

Much like their counterparts on the back-end, the Canucks forward corps are blessed with impressive skill, and impressive depth. They are led by the Swedish twins, Daniel and Henrik Sedin. One of the twins led the Canucks in every major offensive category. To say they are the catalyst of the offense would be an understatement. That’s not to say they are the only weapons on the offensive side, as Alex Burrows scored twenty eight goals on the year, and that was coupled with the career offensive year from Ryan Kesler. Oh yeah, did I mention some other Swedish guy named Mats Sundin?

The St Louis Blues are very youthful up front, as four of their top six forwards are twenty six and under. The team is led by 33 goal scorer, Brad Boyes, and second is twenty four year old David Backes. In addition on the youth front, the Blues got valuable contributions from David Perron and Patrik Berglund, neither of whom have reached the age of twenty one. Much like the Canucks with Sundin, the Blues have reliable veteran Keith Tkachuk who just turned 37, Andy MacDonald who has had a strong second half, and additionally may be fortunate enough to get injured Paul Kariya back sometime in the first round.

Edge: Even

Coaching/Special Teams/Intangibles:

2006-07 Jack Adams winner Alain Vigneault boasts one of the best all time winning percentages for a Canucks coach. Unfortunately, that has not translated to playoff success for the Vancouver fans, as he is two games below 500 in playoff games with the Canucks. On the special team side, the Canucks can best be described as middling, as they have a success rate similar to my GPA as it falls right smack in the middle of the curve.

Perennially underrated coach Andy Murray, leads the St. Louis Blues into the playoffs. This will be Murray’s first playoff foray since he lead a similarly inexperienced Kings squad into the playoffs, where they gave the heavily favoured Colorado Avalanche a huge scare, losing in seven games. The Blues boast a top ten power play, with a 20.5 percent success rate and a top three penalty killing unit, with a 83.8 percent kill rate.

Edge: St. Louis Blues

Prediction: Canucks in 7. The Canucks, on paper, should win in fewer games. I don’t know if it the weight of the expectations on them, their youth, or their middle-of-the-pack special teams, but the St. Louis Blues are a dangerous team, with nothing to lose, and led by a head-coach who has performed miracles just getting them into this position. Can one more miracle occur? I suspect the Blues will fall just short.

Pre-Game Report

Richard Pollock — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:05:00 +0000

Here are some news and notes heading into tonight’s games:

Francis Bouillon is out tonight for the Habs.
Phil Kessel (healthy scratch) will not dress tonight for Boston.
Rob Niedermayer (concussion) won’t dress for the Ducks tonight.
Todd Marchant is expected to take Niedermayer’s spot in the line up.
Corey Perry (quad) is unlikely to play tonight.
Miikka Kiprusoff is looking like the starter for Calgary tonight.
Devin Setoguchi and Christian Ehrhoff are going to be in the line up for the Sharks tonight.
Jordan Leopold may replace Jeff Finger on the Avalanche blue line tonight.