Game 19: Winnipeg Jets vs Florida Panthers pre-game report

The Jets enter tonight’s game feeling good about themselves having won four straight games and having picked up points in 12 of their last 14 contests (10-2-2). The Panther on the other hand have been playing well but did lose their last game.

Yesterday the team saw head coach Rick Bowness, who is on a leave of absence, so that may have provided this club with a bit of an emotional boost. And today we learned that he will be back behind the bench after a 13 game absence as he stayed by the side of his wife Judy who suffered a seizure last month.

Skate news:

Some more interesting news this morning as Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press is reporting that Gabriel Vilardi has shed his non-contact uniform today at morning skate although he notes that he is skating as a defenceman so he continues to progress but obviously not quite ready for a return. Wieber confirms same lines although worth noting Brenden Dillon didn’t skate this morning. Logan Stanley took his spot.

Warm-up:

Wieber confirms that Brenden Dillon is taking warm-up and will pair with Neal Pionk.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Gustafsson-AJF

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Coach media:

Tips:

The NHL has made embedding videos more difficult this season. You need to “Accept All Cookies” and then you’ll have to scroll down a little in their window to see the video.

Topics:

1) Update on his wife Judy
2) The challenge they faced together (1:04)
3) How much contact did he have with Scott Arniel while away? (1:14)
4) What was it like emotionally to walk back into the room with his players? (2:09)
5) Status of Brenden Dillon? (2:41)
6) Is Gabe Vilardi unlikely for Sunday? (2:56)
7) Encouraged by Vilardi getting up to speed? (3:19)
8) Is Laurent Brossoit an option for Sunday? (3:37)
9) Challenge presented by the Panthers (3:53)
10) Does he use U.S. Thanksgiving as a benchmark? (4:35)
11) How does he feel the team is doing approaching 1/4 mark? (4:57)
12) When did he arrive in Florida? (5:31)

Health update:

As per head coach Rick Bowness defenceman Brenden Dillon will be a game-time decision as he’s dealing with a lower-body issue. He also wouldn’t rule out Gabriel Vilardi returning to the lineup on Sunday against the Preds.

Betway Odds:

Florida has been a very solid team in general this season and very good at home going 7-2-1 in Sunrise. The Jets counter with a respectable 5-2-1 road record but despite that just a single point seperates these two clubs and it’s Winnipeg which has the slightly better goal differential (+10 vs +6) the oddsmakers are giving a rather clear edge to the home team. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 7 pm CST.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. You can also join us afterwards for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show. (Please be sure to smash that like/subscribe button).