Game 24: Jets vs Panthers pre-game report

A visit from last year’s President Trophy winning Panthers is slightly different this time around with the team from Del Boca Vista currently sitting on the outside of the playoff line, currently 10th in the Eastern Conference. Of course, the bigger focus is the fact that Florida is now coached by former Jets bench boss Paul Maurice who spent parts of nine seasons behind the bench in Winnipeg.

Skate news:

As per Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet the players who stayed on for extra work after skate included: Kyle Capobianco, Logan Stanley, Jansen Harkins and Dominic Toninato. The only question it would appear is whether Mikey Eyssimont and Sam Gagner will remain flipped or if they go back to how things were to start the game against the Ducks.

Lineup:

Jets bench boss Rick Bowness confirms that Mikey Eyssimont will stick with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kyle Connor to start tonight’s game against the Panthers.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Rittich

Betway Odds:

While the Jets sit 4th in the West and the Panthers are 10th in the East the oddsmakers feel this is a pretty even match-up. This despite the fact that Winnipeg is 7-3-0 in their last ten and a solid 9-3-0 at home while Florida counters that having gone 4-3-3 in their last ten while being a subpar 6-7-1 on the road. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Players media availability:

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) Return of Paul Maurice to Winnipeg. Is this just another game?
2) Difference in Panthers now vs a year ago? (1:16)
3) Panthers being a high shot volume team (2:14)
4) Lineup remains same? Eyssimont/Gagner swap? (3:20)
5) What player does Eyssimont remind him of? (3:44)
6) Does he need to produce on that line? (4:31)

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 7:00 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).