Game 30: Winnipeg Jets vs Boston Bruins pre-game report

The Jets concluded their three games in four days with four out of a possible six points and despite the two wins folks seemed focused on the loss which came on the second game of a back-to-back. The team took Monday off as they tried to get back some energy which was lost after their monster road trip. The good news for a Winnipeg club that has gone 4-6-0 in their last ten games is they still sit tied with the Wild for 1st in the Central. The bad news is their special teams have fallen off a cliff with the power play sliding down to 3rd overall after going 2/15 in their last five games which coincides with the absence of Nikolaj Ehlers. Additionally the penalty kill which appeared to have stabilized and which had actually improved from 19th t0 16th has once again dropped down to 20th in the league which likely hasn’t been helped by Dylan Samberg who has missed time with a broken foot (suffered ironically during a PK).

They face the Bruins for the first time this season who arrive in Winnipeg having won four straight games. They sit 3rd in the Metro. They have a 6-5-1 road record so far this season and interestingly their goal differential is -12. Given how badly the home team’s PK has been if they take any penalties tonight they’ll only be going up against the worst PP in the entire NHL firing at just 12%. Boston has a similar PK to Winnipeg’s sitting in 20th overall so special teams not an advantage for the visitors.

Skate news:

Nikita Chibrikov on the ice this morning in his number 90 helmet as he joins the second line.David Gustafsson will be up the middle on the 4th line.

And it appears it will be a return to Ville Heinola and Logan Stanley are back together.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey-DeMelo
Fleury-Pionk
Stanley-Heinola

Hellebuyck

Bruins projected lines & D pairs:

Marchand-Lindholm-Pastrnak
Geekie-Zacha-Brazeau
Frederic-Coyle-Kastelic
Koepke-Beecher-McLaughlin

Oesterle-McAvoy
Zadorov-Carlo
Lohrei-Peeke

Swayman
Korpisalo

Based on the last game they played.

Player media:

Coach media:

Topics:

1) Rotating Chibrikov/Lambert
2) Any update on Nikolaj Ehlers (:54)
3) Facing three teams who have made coaching changes (1:08)
4) How did he like Lambert’s 5 on 5 game? (1:31)
5) Drills designed to get team more into ‘attack mode’ (2:45)
6) New look to line with Chibrikov on it. (3:28)
7) What stands out about how the Bruins are playing now? (4:22)
8) Was rotation for prospects part of the approach? (4:53)
9) Kupari made it difficult to take him out/getting Gustafsson in (6:08)

Up Next:

Reminder we have a special edition of Illegal Curve Hockey coming to you live from Cityplace at 12 noon so join us on the 2nd floor by the food court or you can jump on the show via our YouTube channel.

Puck drop is at 7 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 9:40 PM CST as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.

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