2020 Stanley Cup Play-In Series: Jets vs. Flames pre-game 4 report

The Jets will be fighting for their right to stay in the Edmonton bubble tonight as they get set for a critical game 4 in their series with the Flames. Both teams took it easy on Wednesday as they rested up following three games in four days. Considering all the injuries the Jets could certainly have used a day to rest up.

Infirmary is getting full:

The Jets were already without Mark Scheifele, Patrik Laine and Mason Appleton after game 1 and that list grew slightly following game 3 as Mathieu Perreault was knocked out of the game in the 2nd period.  Prior to the 3rd period getting started he came out for a skate before heading back down the tunnel.

When Jets coach Paul Maurice was asked (in three or four different ways) during yesterday’s media availability of the status of any of the four he wasn’t tipping his hand aside from acknowledging that none had yet skated.

Jets could use 16th forward tnt; if Perreault can’t go then who?

Who would have believed that the Jets could be on their 16th forward if Mathieu Perreault (or any of the three listed above) remain unavailable for tonight’s game.  Coach Paul Maurice certainly didn’t expect to have used that many in the first week which is a sentiment he expressed yesterday. In total the Jets have just 17 forwards in the bubble.

The Jets bench boss was asked if he ends up needing an extra forward to make the case for either veteran Mark Letestu or rookie David Gustafsson. “They are different but they are similar. They are both incredibly responsible players. Mark has the experience to be a responsible player and Gus is certainly learning the game. That’s what he will do, that will be his job. He’s going to be a really responsible National Hockey Leaguer. Some of the decision is actually going to be which player do I think is most flexible in terms of using him not just at centre but on the wing. I haven’t made a decision because I need other information before. First if I have to put a guy in, how the other lines will structure out. Clearly we’ve moved our lines more than we’d like to but the flexibility of that player comes in may be important, that may be the tipping point for them.”

Morning skate:

As per JetsPR “forwards Mason Appleton, Patrik Laine, and Mark Scheifele were unfit to practice this morning.”  This would appears to suggest that Mathieu Perreault was able to practice which means the lineup will likely look as it did in game 3.

Warm-up skate:

Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet confirms that none of the injured Jets (Mason Appleton, Patrik Laine, and Mark Scheifele) are on the ice for warm-up skate but he did confirm that Mathieu Perreault is skating.  Ken also indicated that there were some changes to the Jets lines.

Projected Lines, D pairs and starting goalie:

Connor-Wheeler-Ehlers
Copp-Lowry-Roslovic
Harkins-Eakin-Perreault
Bourque-Shore-Shaw

Morrissey-DeMelo
Kulikov-Pionk
Beaulieu-Poolman

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 9:30 PM CT.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action which includes post-game audio from Jets players as well as from coach Maurice.