It starts anew. The Jets and Stars put the first round behind them and do battle to punch their ticket to the Western Conference Finals starting tonight in Winnipeg. To get you set up check out these five keys to the series.
Yesterday left us with a few question marks as the Jets had a trio of players (Scheifele, Morrissey & Stanley) all taking part in the optional practice but all were wearing non-contact uniforms and were listed by head coach Scott Arniel as “day-to-day”. So we will have to wait and see what morning skate brings.
Similarly the Stars are also dealing with injuries to a pair of their top players in Jason Robertson who was injured in the final game of the season and missed the entire opening round of the playoffs. Seems like he should be a player tonight based on reports out of Dallas. On the backend they’ve been without top Dman Miro Heiskanen since the end of January but he too could be ready to return this round.
Morning skate news:
All three players (Scheifele, Morrissey and Stanley) who were yellow, non-contact are all in regular uniforms today.
Josh Morrissey doesn’t look like he’ll be a player tonight.
Jets lines & D pairs:
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Ehlers-Namestnikov-Perfetti
Niederrieter-Lowry-Appleton
Tanev-Barron-Iafallo
Fleury-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Miller-Schenn
Hellebuyck
Stars lines & D pairs:
Granlund-Hintz-Rantanen
Benn-Duchene-Seguin
Marchment-Johnston-Robertson
Bäck-Steel-Dadonov
Smith-Bourque-Blackwell
Harley – Lyubushkin
Lindell – Ceci
Bischel – Petrovic
Oettinger
Player media availability:
Coach media availability
Topics:
1) 5 on 5 as an area to improve.
2) Facing Mikko Rantanen (1:19)
3) When did he turn the page on round 1? (2:09)
4) Status of Mark Scheifele? (3:25)
5) The chess match vs Stars coach Pete DeBoer (3:42)
6) Haydn Fleury’s skating as a factor (4:34)
7) His relationship with Dallas GM Jim Nill (5:09)
8) Having full arsenal of forwards & 4th line specifically (5:46)
9) Neal Pionk’s old school attitude (6:39)
10) Biggest difference between Dallas & St. Louis (8:00)
Up Next:
Come say hi at the Special Edition Illegal Curve pre-game show live from Cityplace starting at 6:30 PM CDT (or join us here).
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 Scott Arniel. You can also join us afterwards for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show (be sure to smash that like/subscribe button).
Podcast:
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