The Jets come into tonight’s game having lost four straight (0-3-1), with second pairing Dman Brenden Dillon set to start a three-game suspension and with a lot of their players mired in a scoring drought. Not exactly a great combination. Given the success this team had for the last two months this adversity is testing them especially when you’ve got the spectre of last season’s post All-Star drop in the standings. However their defensive numbers are still very good they just need to get back to scoring.
Without Dillon available, as per head coach Rick Bowness, they will have Logan Stanley return to the lineup to play his first game since December 12th. They cannot recall Ville Heinola from the AHL without making a corresponding move to put someone on waivers as they are currently sitting with 23 on the roster.
Despite this recent slip the Jets are still a very good road team (14-6-3) and have allowed the least amount of goals against in the NHL by a country mile. Conversely this Flyers team they face tonight have been a poor team at home (11-12-2) who have scored roughly as many goals for as Winnipeg but have allowed 37 more goals against. Philly sits third in the Metro with the Islanders and Penguins in hot pursuit.
The lines and D pairs are based on yesterday’s practice. The starting goalie is not yet known.
Morning Skate:
As per Mitchell Clinton of the Jets just a few players skating this morning at the optional including: Hellebuyck, Connor, Scheifele, Barron, Vilardi, Stanley, Dillon, Toninato, Gustafsson, and Kupari.
Starting goalie:
Associate coach Scott Arniel confirmed to Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press that the starter tonight is Laurent Brossoit.
Jets projected lines & D pairs:
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Perfetti-Monahan-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Namestnikov-Iafallo
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Schmidt
Brossoit
Hellebuyck
Coach media:
Tips:
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Topics:
1) Starting goalie
2) Suspension to Brenden Dillon (:20)
3) Confusion on how suspensions are mandated. (1:07)
4) Good opportunity for Logan Stanley (1:45)
5) Trying to create traffic in front of the Philly net (2:10)
6) Is he noticing any frustration in his group during this streak? (3:19)
Up Next:
Puck drop is at 6:00 pm CST. Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. You can also join us afterwards for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show. (Please be sure to smash that like/subscribe button).
