The Jets have won three of their last four and while those wins were certainly not the prettiest of efforts the end result was six of eight points were put into the standings bank. Today they face a Devils team that sits last in the Metropolitan division with a 3-5-4 record and are 1-3-0 on the road.
The big lineup question is whether Nathan Beaulieu will return to the roster today. Indications from yesterday’s practice seemed to suggest he would be back but coach Maurice wouldn’t confirm it as he wanted to see how his defenceman felt today before making that determination. Beaulieu has been out since the last pre-season game against the Wild.
Morning Skate:
As per Murat Ates of The Athletic Winnipeg players taking part in today’s optional include ” Wheeler, Scheifele, Connor, Laine, Copp, Shaw, Bourque, Morrissey, Dahlstrom, and Beaulieu.”.
Lineup Note:
Coach Maurice confirmed that Nathan Beaulieu returns to the lineup today. We will have to wait till warm up skate to determine what the pairings will be officially.
Jets projected lines and D pairs:
Ehlers-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Little-Laine
Copp-Lowry-Roslovic
Perreault-Gustafsson-Bourque
Morrissey-Kulikov
Beaulieu-Pionk
Bitetto-Sbisa
Hellebuyck
Brossoit
Devils projected lines and D pairs:
Hall-Hischier-Palmieri
Zacha-Hughes-Gusev
Boqvist-Zajac-Coleman
Wood-Rooney-Simmonds
Severson-Subban
Greene-Vatanen
Butcher-Tennyson
Via Corey Masisak who covers New Jersey for The Athletic NYC.
Audio:
Bryan Little
Neal Pionk
Coach Maurice: What kind of game is he wanting to see from his team tonight? What does Bryan Little bring in terms of stability to the second line? On team identity, how much he learns in the first 20 games and then evolving from his original assessment. Is there anything about this team that surprises him at this point? Does he look back at the Devils game (game 2 of the season) for tonight’s game? Power play talk. On Neal Pionk playing 29 minutes in that last game. Is Nathan Beaulieu playing? Update on Poolman?
All audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.
Health News:
Asked for an update on Tucker Poolman, who didn’t play after the 1st period in Vegas on Saturday night, coach Maurice indicated that he didn’t have anything new “No, nothing. Still getting tested.”.
Up Next:
Puck drop is at 7:00 pm CDT. Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action which includes post-game audio from the Jets room as well as from Coach Maurice.
