2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Jets vs Oilers pre-game 3 report

The Jets got Pierre-Luc Dubois back on Friday night and they also picked up the all-important victory over the Oilers to take a 2-0 lead into tonight’s game 3 back in Winnipeg.  The question mark for today is whether Nikolaj Ehlers, who wore a regular uniform at morning skate on Friday, will be back for the game and if he is, how that impacts the lines.

Skate news:

As per Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet dynamic forward Nikolaj Ehlers remains in a regular uniform.  Ken tweeted this which would seem to indicate that Ehlers will play tonight with Copp switching to a bottom six uniform:

No Blake Wheeler or Paul Stastny (which is normal). Jansen Harkins and Kristian Vesalainen wearing white jerseys to fill in for them. Andrew Copp is wearing blue (likely back with Adam Lowry), so that’s a clue Nikolaj Ehlers could be back tonight for Jets.

Of course you don’t know until Ehlers confirms he’s playing (if he speaks this morning), head coach Paul Maurice confirms he is playing during his media availability or we see what happens during warm-up skate this evening.

Lineup update:

Nikolaj Ehlers spoke this morning and confirms he will play tonight.  Paul Maurice confirms that this will be the only lineup change tonight.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Stastny-Dubois
Copp-Lowry-Appleton
Perreault-Thompson-Lewis

Morrissey-DeMelo
Forbort-Pionk
Stanley-Poolman

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Players media availability:

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) What are the signs he’s looking for to know Nikolaj Ehlers is ready to go?
2) On Nikolaj Ehlers adjusting to the style of play he is asking the team to play.
3) What can Ehlers do to change the way the series looks?
4) How does the back-to-back impact the series?
5) On the energy a full house could bring to this game?
6) Is Ehlers the only change to the lineup?
7) On Mark Scheifele’s defensive game.
8) Having patience and getting rewarded without forcing the game.
9) What role did familiarity have in reuniting the lines?
10) The growth in Mark Scheifele’s game.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6:30 pm CDT.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action which includes post-game interviews from Jets players as well as from head coach Paul Maurice.  You can also join us afterwards for our post-game show here (be sure to smash that like/subscribe button).