The Jets head into a home rink (Amalie Arena) which has proven to be most formidable to visiting teams (the Lightning hold a 12-2-1 record). We know from yesterday’s practice that Connor Hellebuyck will be back in net tonight although coach Maurice suggested that with some bumps and bruises he wasn’t ready to commit to icing the same lineup as last game. When skate gets underway at 10:30 am CST we will know if there are any changes.
Morning skate notes:
Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun indicated this morning that it will be the same forward lines and D pairs as we saw last game. The only question is the status of Steve Mason who practiced with the team.
Health Update:
On Steve Mason, Jets coach Paul Maurice said “Cleared the day. We’ll give him a real hard push. He’s been working hard for a week. For us, he said he felt fine for a week, he just couldn’t get through one of the sections. Passed his test. There won’t be, really any turnaround time on him now. He’s going to get a good hard work day today and we’ll make sure he gets off that plane tonight feels good for tomorrow and then we’ll insert him back in.” When asked if Mason would be back for Monday, coach Maurice said “Possibly, ya. He’s gotta come off IR and before that we got to make sure everything is right and he’s still got two more days he’s got to get through before we have to make that decision.”
Jets projected lines, D Pairs:
Connor – Scheifele – Wheeler
Ehlers – Little – Laine
Copp – Lowry – Tanev
Perreault – Hendricks – Armia
Morrissey – Trouba
Chiarot – Byfuglien
Kulikov – Myers
Hellebuyck
Comrie
Extras: Matthias, Dano, Poolman.
Audio:
Coach Maurice: Preparing for the Lightning. Keys to cracking down defensively. On Stamkos. Status of Steve Mason.
Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.
