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Winnipeg Jets

2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Winnipeg Jets vs Vegas Golden Knights pre-game 3 report

Getting you set up for Game 3 of Round 1.

The biggest question mark for the Jets ahead of puck drop this afternoon is the status of Nikolaj Ehlers as he has missed the last three games including the first two games of this series with the Golden Knights. Yesterday before leaving Nevada there was a media availability with head coach Rick Bowness in which he indicated he was hopeful that Ehlers could play today. Coach is speaking at 1:30 PM but he may say he is a game-time decision still which means you should watch warm-up skate to find out if the dynamic winger will make his debut in the 2023 playoffs.

Morning Skate news:

No skate with an afternoon game.

Lineup news:

Analyst John Shannon reporting that Nikolaj Ehlers has not been medically cleared to play in game 3. During his media availability Rick Bowness confirmed the above report saying Ehlers has not been cleared to play. He indicated that Ehlers wants to play, that he thinks he can play but they won’t put him on the ice until that happens.He said Ehlers will skate with the team tomorrow at practice.

Bowness also said that there are a couple of guys who are banged up. There will be a few extra skates in warm-up.

Warm-up skate:

Despite Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Karson Kuhlman and Logan Stanley all taking warm-up skate none of the three are playing tonight and no changes for the Jets.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Rittich

Coach media availability:

Betway Odds:

The oddsmakers heavily favoured Vegas in game 2 but they have flipped things around for game 3. In fact they’ve got the Jets as the slight favourites in today’s matinee with the Golden Knights. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 3 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).

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