2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Winnipeg Jets vs Vegas Golden Knights pre-game 4 report

The Jets are back in must-win/can’t lose territory after losing both game 3 in double OT but also losing their best defenceman Josh Morrissey for the rest of this series. There are plenty of other question marks ahead of this game as head coach Rick Bowness did indicate they might go 11/7 with some roster question marks including the status of Nikolaj Ehlers.

Recall news:

The Jets announced that they have recalled goalie Arvid Holm from the Moose. Still no D recall as I am at Moose practice and all their D are present and accounted for.

Morning Skate news:

Lines and D pairs updated as per Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun.

Health Update:

No Nikolaj Ehlers still for Winnipeg as Rick Bowness said he has not been cleared to play. He also confirmed that Arvid Holm backs up Connor Hellebuyck tonight. Said David Rittich dealing with a lower-body thing. Said they expect Rittich to back-up Hellebuyck on Thursday.

Warm-up:

No changes from this morning for Winnipeg despite Kyle Capobianco taking skate. David Gustafsson comes out for Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (which we already knew) but are reiterating as 19 took the skate as well. They will go 12/6.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Dubois-Niederreiter
Namestnikov-Scheifele-Wheeler
Barron-Lowry-Appleton
AJF-Stenlund-Maenalanen

Dillon-Pionk
Schmidt-DeMelo
Samberg-Stanley

Hellebuyck
Holm

Players media availability:

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) Status of David Rittich?
2) Has he decided if it will be 11/7 or 12/6? (:21)
3) Is it possible Axel Jonsson-Fjallby draws in? (:41)
4) Status of Nikolaj Ehlers? (:50)
5) Shedding some PK minutes for Pionk given added responsibilities? (1:12)
6) Harnessing the Whiteout energy (1:40)
7) Odds being heavily favouring team that wins game 3, does that impact him? (2:36)
8) What’s important for guys who haven’t played much to get into it quickly? (3:46)
9) Logan Stanley bringing a physical presence (4:16)
10) What can forwards do to make life of D easier? (4:41)
11) Has he gotten enough from his star players? (5:32)

Betway Odds:

Unlike the last game the odds have flipped back in the favour of the visitors although it is fairly close. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 8:30 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 Rick Bowness.

You can also join us afterwards for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show (be sure to smash that like/subscribe button).