2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Round 1 Game 5: Jets vs. Blues pre-game report

It is a brand new series with the road teams winning all the games so far which by my math means we have a 2-2 split to date.  That makes tonight’s Game 5 a critical one (thanks Captain Obvious) as both squads attempt to gain the lead in the Best-of-Seven series.

Morning Skate Notes:

All Jets present and accounted for according to Jason Bell of the Winnipeg Free Press including Patrik Laine who hadn’t been taking morning skates.

Jets Projected lineup:

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Little-Laine
Copp-Lowry-Tanev
Perreault-Hayes-Roslovic

Morrissey-Trouba
Chiarot-Byfuglien
Kulikov-Myers

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Jets audio:

Adam Lowry

Josh Morrissey

Coach Maurice:  Home ice advantage?  On Mathieu Perreault’s penalties.  Need to have a chat with him?  On the way the TLC line plays and the lack of penalties. What stood out to him about the play of the Scheifele lines through four games?  On the overall competition in the NHL playoffs.  Improved play from Sundqvist changed the matchup game for him?  On Kyle Connor learning a lot from playoffs last year and the different player he is today.  On Patrik Laine’s complete game. Do they need to reinforce that with Laine?  Is it a tough sell to a player like Laine that that game was his best vs one he scores five against the Blues?

Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.

Blues Projected lineup:

Schenn-O’Reilly-Tarasenko
Schwartz-Sundqvist-Perron
Maroon-Bozak-Thomas
Fabbri-Barbashev-Steen

Dunn-Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester-Parayko
Edmundson-Bortuzzo

Binnington
Allen

Lines courtesy of Brian Munz of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.

Blues audio:

Tyler Bozak

Brayden Schenn

Coach Berube:  Is there momentum in a series or more what happens in a game itself?  Is this what he expected (down to a best of three)?  Slowing down the Scheifele line.  On the team mentality.  On the Blues ability to play well on the road.  Puck clearance/neutral zone play.  Sticking with the same lines.  Status of Robert Bortuzzo?  NHL parity.  Thoughts on Robby Fabbri’s game.  Knowing what the other team is all about.

Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 7:30 pm CDT.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action which includes post-game audio from the Jets room as well as from coach Maurice.