Game 12: Jets vs. Stars pre-game report

The Jets have a pair of games on this home stand including tonight’s game against central division rival Dallas.  Puck drop is at 7 pm.

Morning skate notes:

Coach Maurice really seems to be moving towards optional morning skates.  As per Scott Billeck of NHL.com it is an optional again today.  We know that coach Maurice indicated yesterday that Connor Hellebuyck and his 6-0-1 record gets the start in net.

Projected Jets lines, D Pairs & starting goalie:

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Little-Laine
Tanev-Copp-Matthias
Lemieux-Hendricks-Armia

Morrissey-Trouba
Enstrom-Byfuglien
Kulikov-Myers

Hellebuyck
Mason

Extras:  Dano, Poolman and Chiarot.

Roster moves:

Jets announced that they have assigned Tucker Poolman to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL.

Audio:

Blake Wheeler

Patrik Laine

Coach Maurice:  On Laine’ recent play.  On Laine’s confidence.  How does he assess the other parts of Laine’s game?  Same lineup?  Can scoring for Laine boost the rest of his game?  How comfortable are the Jets playing 2-1 games?  What has he liked about Byfuglien’s game of late?  Does he structure the game to take advantage of a Stars team that has been on the road for some time?  What has it meant to have Tyler Myers back in the lineup?  How does the collective mentality of the team change when you have a goalie playing as well as Hellebuyck has been playing?  More on Laine’s game.

Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg

Projected Stars lines, D Pairs & starting goalie:

Benn-Seguin-Radulov
Janmark-Dickinson-Shore
Smith-Faksa-Pitlick
Elie-Spezza-Roussel

Methot-Klingberg
Lindell-Johns
Hamhuis-Pateryn

Bishop
Lehtonen

Stars lines courtesy of Brian Munz of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.