Game 20: Jets vs. Panthers projected lines

The Jets are coming off a 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday while the Florida Panthers are coming off a 5-4 shootout victory over the Boston Bruins.  Florida is a team that sits fourth in the entire NHL in goals for but they also sit fourth last in the NHL in goals against (they are even-steven with 67 GF and 67 GA).

AM Skate:

No morning skate today.  The Jets will hold a media availability at 3:30 pm CST where we will learn of any lineup changes.  For now the projected lines and D pairs are based on yesterday’s practice.  Seems like a reasonable time for Laurent Brossoit to get his first start since November 2nd.

Jets projected lines and D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Laine
Ehlers-Wheeler-Roslovic
Copp-Lowry-Perreault
Luoto-Gustafsson-Shaw

Morrissey-Poolman
Kulikov-Pionk
Beaulieu-Sbisa

Brossoit
Hellebuyck

Audio:

Coach Maurice:  Lineup?  Why go with Laurent Brossoit?  On the play of Hellebuyck this last stretch?  Getting Hellebuyck some rest.  What is he looking for from his group against the Panthers?  On how Joel Quenneville runs the bench.  Does the style of Florida look a lot different than when they saw them last year in Finland?  What is he hearing about Sami Niku?  What would it take to get Niku back up?  Switch of Niku to the left side.  How did he gauge the quality of shots they took last game and the homestand overall.  Generating offence.  Nikolaj Ehlers.  More defensive zone starts for Mark Scheifele.  Playing as a five man unit.  Any update on Bryan Little?  Was he in concussion protocol?

Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.

Health News:

Coach Maurice indicated that he doesn’t have much of an update on veteran centre Bryan Little who was placed on IR one week ago today after he was hit in the side of the head with a puck which perforated his eardrum and left him dealing with vertigo.  “I don’t.  There’s really nothing new.  He’s just healing right now before any assessment gets going forward.”  The follow-up question was whether Little was in concussion protocol “I don’t even believe we’ve gotten to that point yet.  This one is going to be real patient and like I said he’s still healing.  That’s far enough down the road that they haven’t done that yet.”

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 audio from the Jets room as well as from Coach Maurice.