Game 18: Jets vs Wild pre-game report

The Jets sit five points up on the Wild with a game in hand as the battle of Friendly Manitoba vs Minnesota Nice kicks off for the first time this season. Defenceman Dylan DeMelo skated ahead of the optional practice for Winnipeg on Tuesday as he deals with an upper-body injury although the hope/expectation is that he will play in a game on this three-game road trip.

Skate news:

It appears the Jets will run the same lineup as they did last game as per Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet who is at XCel this morning. Adam Lowry wasn’t skating this morning (Dominic Toninato was in his spot) but Ken says he expects him to play. He added that Dylan DeMelo and Morgan Barron were both in non-contact uniforms.

Health news:

According to Mike McIntyre,who is in St. Paul, during his media availability bench boss Rick Bowness indicated that Adam Lowry isn’t feeling well but is expected to play in the game which makes Dominic Toninato and Kyle Capobianco the healthy scratches.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Gagner
Perfetti-Dubois-Wheeler
Jonsson Fjallby – Lowry – Maenalanen
Harkins-Gustafsson-Eyssimont

Morrissey-Pionk
Dillon-Schmidt
Samberg-Heinola

Hellebuyck
Rittich

Betway Odds:

Minnesota hasn’t been particularly good at home with just a 3-5-1 record in the friendly confines of XCel Energy Center while Winnipeg’s road record is 4-3-1. Both clubs come into action having defeated the Hurricanes in overtime. For now the odds are against the visitors. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Players media availability:

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) Status of Adam Lowry.
2) Update on Dylan DeMelo (:30)
3) Update on Logan Stanley (:47)
4) Challenges presented by the Wild (1:03)
5) Can the “high temperature” between teams carry over? (1:37)
6) Update on Nikolaj Ehlers (2:02)
7) What did he think of Ville Heinola’s first game? (2:27)
8) Shortening the bench with 5 to go last game (3:17)
9) Thoughts on Mikey Eyssimont (5:34)

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 which includes post-game interviews from Jets players as well as from head coach Rick Bowness.

You can also join us afterwards for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show (be sure to smash that like/subscribe button). This season you’ll have a chance to win great schwag including authentic Jets jerseys, hats, etc after every single game (For a variety of ways to enter click here).