The Jets will be a snarly bunch when they hit the ice tonight in Vancouver after dropping all three games they played in California to start their road trip. The lone bright spot was the return of Cole Perfetti, who played his first game of the season after getting hurt in the final preseason contest. Winnipeg still has several skating wounded, with Gustav Nyquist, Morgan Barron, and Dylan Samberg all skating in yellow non-contact jerseys. Since the team didn’t skate Monday, we could see some changes this morning in BC.
Winnipeg’s biggest issue is scoring. They managed just two goals over those three games, and their power play has gone ice cold—1-for-17 in that stretch, sliding from Top 3 to 13th overall. Not exactly a recipe for success.
The good news? They’ll face a favorable matchup. Their opponent’s penalty kill ranks 31st in the NHL, and Vancouver’s power play hasn’t exactly been lethal either, sitting 19th overall. That could give Winnipeg some breathing room to rediscover their offensive rhythm.
As for the lineup, it’ll be worth watching morning skate. There’s a decent chance we see prospect Brad Lambert back in action, while the status of Cole Koepke remains uncertain after he sat out the last game presumably with some sort of ailment.
Skate news:
According to Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press no changes to the lineup aside from Connor Hellebuyck getting the start. We did learn that Dylan Samberg is in a regular uniform today for the first time but he was not skating with a D pair that is playing tonight.
Mitch indicated that Gustav Nyquist is in a regular jersey while Morgan Barron and Cole Koepke joined late in non-contact.
Jets projected lines & D pairs:
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Namestnikov-Toews-Perfetti
Niederreiter-Lowry-Iafallo
Pearson-Ford-Chibrikov
Morrissey-DeMelo
Stanley-Pionk
Fleury-Schenn
Hellebuyck
Comrie
Canucks projected lines & D pairs:
Kane – Pettersson – Garland
Boeser – Reichel – Sherwood
O’Connor – Raty – Debrusk
Bains – Sasson – Karlsson
Hughes – Hronek
Pettersson – Myers
Pettersson – Willander
Lankinen/Demko
Players media availability:
Coach media availability:
Topics:
1) Health updates.
2) Getting back to their standard (1:05)
3) The chances they are creating (1:59)
4) What has he seen from the power play? (2:42)
5) What Cole Perfetti can do for PP1 (3:21)
6) Putting Perfetti with Jonathan Toews (3:49)
Health news:
While Dylan Samberg was back in a regular jersey today he won’t be a player tonight, although he and Gustav Nyquist are both getting closer to a return according to head coach Scott Arniel. Additionally Cole Koepke and Morgan Barron are listed as day-to-day which is big news regarding Barron who, just eight days ago, was listed as week-to-week.
Odds:
Despite dropping three straight, the Jets enter tonight’s matchup as favourites against a struggling Canucks squad. Vancouver has gone 4-5-1 over its last ten and has had trouble finding consistency on home ice. Winnipeg, still sitting in a solid position despite its recent skid, will look to take advantage of a vulnerable opponent and get its offence back on track against a Canucks team searching for answers. For the latest Winnipeg Jets hockey odds, visit NHL betting site Betway.
Up Next:
Puck drop is at 9 PM CST. Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. You can join us on our YouTube channel for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show around 11:40 PM CST as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.
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