No skate for the Jets as they played last night in Washington. Big question marks for Winnipeg as both Joel Armia and Mathieu Perreault left the game yesterday and did not return. Chris Thorburn didn’t play last night as he was celebrating a family event (assuming a birth but not confirmed) but assuming he is in Michigan he will likely draw in for the Jets. Provided either Armia and/or Perreault cannot play then Winnipeg will have to call someone up from the Moose. My guess if it is just one player is Nic Petan gets the call (Update: Nic Petan was recalled by Winnipeg this morning).
Lines are updated via Brian Munz of TSN 1290 Winnipeg:
Laine-Scheifele-Ehlers
Connor-Petan-Wheeler
Dano-Lowry-Tanev
Burmistrov-Copp-Thorburn
Morrissey-Byfuglien
Enstrom-Postma
Melchiori-Chiarot
Hellebuyck
Hutchinson
Update: Via Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun we learn that Perreault and Armia are out. Hellebuyck starts. Petan and Thorburn are both in.
Coach audio:
Paul Maurice: Injury update on Perreault and Armia. Petan going into the lineup. On Laine adjusting to the season and seen growth in his game. On what Joel Armia has accomplished this season. What does he like about what Petan could bring to the Jets? Is Thorburn back? 24 hours later does he regret what he said last night? Did he hear from the league? Thoughts on the Red Wings. Does he foresee a time when the NHL does away with the morning skate? Getting into the heart of this tough schedule. Has he ever had a stretch like this before? Challenge with a young team? Hellebuyck starts?
Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.
Via Ansar Khan of MLive.com here are the Wings projected lines (these are from last game but Wings coach Jeff Blashill confirmed no changes), D pairs and expected starting goalie:
Nyquist-Nielsen-Larkin
Tatar-Zetterberg-Abdelkader
Athanasiou-Helm-Sheahan
Miller-Glendening-Ott
DeKeyser-Green
Ericsson-Marchenko
Smith-Kronwall
Mrazek
Howard
Pre-game audio:
Coach Blashill:
