Game 2: Winnipeg Jets vs Chicago Blackhawks pre-game report

The Jets flew back from Edmonton with a big win in their pocket but now they put that in the bank and switch their focus to this four game homestand which kicks off against the Blackhawks this evening in the home opener. The team was off on Thursday and the only thing we learned was that they had placed goalie Kaapo Kahkonen on waivers which makes Eric Comrie the backup to two-time Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck. We will learn at 1 PM if he clears or not.

Skate news:

No surprise that there were no changes to the lines and D pairs after their big win on Wednesday.

Lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-Iafallo

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Fleury-Miller

Hellebuyck
Comrie

Player media:

Coach media:

Topics:

1) How can they bring last game’s effort tnt?
2) Changes the Hawks have made (:36)
3) What has he learned about Connor Bedard’s game? (1:17)
4) Why did he feel Rasmus Kupari was ready to take next step? (1:50)
5) The consistency of Mason Appleton (2:47)
6) What the Lowry line means for him as a coach (3:50)
7) What is he hoping to see from the Ehlers/Namestnikov/Perfetti line? (4:58)
8) Team committing to defence/blocked shots (5:45)
9) Decision to keep Comrie as backup over Kahkonen (6:14)
10) Is it difficult to hold onto last year’s team identity? (6:46)

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 7 PM CDT.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. Reminder to join us on the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.