Game 25: Winnipeg Jets vs Dallas Stars pre-game report

The good news on Saturday in Jetsland was that head coach Scott Arniel didn’t rule out winger Nikolaj Ehlers for today’s game against the Stars. Ehlers didn’t participate in the optional the team held yesterday afternoon so his status is up in the air. Winnipeg is in a bit of a swoon after going 15-1-0 to start the season having lost five of their last eight games. Of course they’ve still got the best record in the NHL at 18-6-0 but they will need to be at their best to close out this grueling six-game road trip against the Stars.

When it comes to lineup aside from the uncertainty regarding Ehlers and whether the team simply moves a forward up for him and inserts David Gustafsson in their spot the other question marks surround the defence and if they’ll get Ville Heinola and Colin Miller back in for Logan Stanley and Dylan Coghlan.

Dallas are eight points back of Winnipeg but they have two games in hand. They are coming off a big win over Colorado although they had lost the two games prior to Carolina and Chicago. They are an excellent team at home sporting a 9-2-0 record at American Airlines Arena. Their power play ranks 21st in the NHL while the penalty kill sits 6th overall.

Skate news:

No morning skate.

Lineup news:

On the 680 CJOB coach’s show head coach Scott Arniel advised Paul Edmonds that Ehlers is out. So David Gustafsson comes in. He also said Dylan Coghlan is out and Colin Miller comes back in. Which means Logan Stanley remains in and Ville Heinola is a healthy scratch for the second straight game.

Warm-up news:

Mitchell Clinton confirms the lineup as projected.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey-DeMelo
Fleury-Pionk
Stanley-Miller

Hellebuyck
Comrie

Stars projected lines & D pairs:

Robertson-Hintz-Johnston
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Benn-Steel-Dadonov
Back-Bourque-Blackwell

Heiskanen-Lybushkin
Harley-Petrovic
Lundqvist-Lindell

Oettinger
DeSmith

Based on yesterday’s media availability with head coach Peter DeBoer no Logan Stankoven as he is dealing with a lower-body injury. He will apparently use same lineup as the one that beat the Avalanche.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 3:30 PM CST.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. You can join us on our YouTube channel for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show around 6:10  PM CST as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.