Game 26: Jets vs. Rangers pre-game report

The Jets and Rangers both played on the road last night with Winnipeg winning 4-3 over New Jersey in OT while New York lost 5-2 to the Habs in Montreal.  Only change expected for Winnipeg is Connor Hellebuyck getting back into the net for the Jets.

Standings:

With the win over the Devils last night the Jets are now 15-8-2 on the season which is good enough for 3rd spot in the central.  They are five points back of 1st place Nashville (with two games in hand) and sit two points up on Minnesota who hold the last wild card spot (with one game in hand).

Injury news:

Dustin Byfuglien was placed on IR after suffering a concussion last Tuesday against the Penguins.  Joe Morrow also last played in the game against Pittsburgh and ended up missing the game on Thursday against Chicago.  His status was uncertain ahead of the road trip but on Saturday coach Maurice indicated that it was “week-to-week maybe but not leading into months we don’t believe.  Just week-to-week.”.  Dmitry Kulikov went out with an injury on November 9th and coach Maurice indicated he wouldn’t be providing an update for at least four weeks although the veteran blueliner is on the road trip and skating with the team in a yellow, non-contact uniform.

Recall news:

With the injuries on the backend to Dustin Byfuglien (concussion) and Joe Morrow (lower-body) the team recalled Nelson Nogier from the Manitoba Moose on Saturday.  This means that half of the seven D men up with the Jets (Niku, Schilling & now Nogier) were playing for the AHL affiliate this season.

AM skate:

No skate for either squad.

Projected Jets lines, D pairs and goalie:

Ehlers-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Little-Laine
Copp-Lowry-Tanev
Perreault-Roslovic-Appleton

Morrissey-Trouba
Chiarot-Niku
Schilling-Myers

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Audio:

Coach Maurice:  Any lineup changes aside from in net?   What has he liked from Morrissey and Trouba logging big minutes?   Has Ben Chiarot become more selective on when to be physical?  Has anything changed with Byfuglien?  Has he ever known Bryan Little to be a player known as someone who embellishes?  Thoughts on the Rangers.  What has Laurent Brossoit meant to the organization?

Up next:

Puck drop is at 5 pm.  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.