The Jets will be looking to build on an excellent game they concluded their homestand with as they dominated the Predators and if not for netminder Jusse Saros would likely have won that game by three goals or more.
With Nate Schmidt on IR after a big hit by Tanner Jeannot the Jets called up Ville Heinola as an emergency recall. It is believed that Kyle Capobianco is dealing with an illness but so was Heniola who missed the last four Moose games as a result including the game in Calgary on Thursday night. Also Rick Bowness had indicated that he expects newly claimed Karson Kuhlman would play this weekend although perhaps that is more likely on Sunday than today.
Morning skate news:
Some interesting developments out west where Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press is reporting that Blake Wheeler isn’t taking part in morning skate. For now Karson Kuhlman is skating in his spot. Whether it is as a placeholder or in that spot will have to wait for head coach Rick Bowness to say. Also Kyle Capobianco skating on the left side with Dylan Samberg on the third pairing.
Jets projected lines & D pairs:
Perfetti-Scheifele-Kuhlman
Connor-Dubois-Gagner
Barron-Lowry-Harkins
Gustafsson-Stenlund-AJF
Eyssimont
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Capobianco-Samberg
Heinola
Hellebuyck
Rittich
Injury update:
Tough news on the injury front as head coach Rick Bowness indicated that Blake Wheeler had groin surgery and will be out at least one month and Nate Schmidt will be out 4-6 weeks with an upper-body injury.
Betway Odds:
While the Jets come into tonight’s game 2nd in the Central and the Canucks are 6th in the Pacific both teams are 7-3-0 in their last ten games. Winnipeg are a respectable 8-4-1 on the road while are a rather pedestrian 5-7-1 at home. Both teams come in having won their last game and the oddsmakers have this game as a toss-up between the two clubs. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.
Players media availability:
Coach media availability:
Topics:
1) Nature of Blake Wheeler’s absence.
2) Would Wheeler having played in 3rd exacerbate it? (1:29)
3) Status of Nate Schmidt (1:53)
4) Inserting Kyle Capobianco over Ville Heinola (2:19)
5) What’s he seen from the Canucks? (2:46)
6) His thoughts on Bruce Boudreau (3:22)
Up Next:
Puck drop is at 9:00 pm CST. 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). This season you’ll have a chance to win great schwag including authentic Jets jerseys, hats, etc after every single game and now a grand prize of a pair of tickets to an NHL game of your choice (For a variety of ways to enter click here).
