Game 30: Winnipeg Jets vs Montreal Canadiens pre-game report

The Jets are looking to keep a fantastic December rolling along as they’ve gone 6-1-0 this month including impressive wins over the Avalanche (x 2) and the Kings as they challenge for top spot in the Central division.  The team was off on Sunday and there aren’t really any question marks heading into this game aside from maybe a question as to why Dominic Toninato remains on the roster rather than being assigned to the Moose since he cleared waivers on Friday.

Given the spacing between games one wonders how the organization will space out the starts for their netminders because Connor Hellebuyck could easily play the next three games before the holiday break. Or they could give Laurent Brossoit either tonight’s game or Wednesday against the Wings.

Morning skate news:

No changes to the lines or D pairs this morning. Connor Hellebuyck in the starter’s net. Dominic Toninato remains up with the big club.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Ehlers-Scheifele-Vilardi
Perfetti-Namestnikov-Barron
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Iafallo-Gustafsson-AJF

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Player media:

Coach media:

Topics:

1) Reflecting on facing the Habs.
2) Is it a tough time of year to maintain focus with Christmas break upcoming? (:34)
3) Describing the style of play used by Montreal? (:56)
4) Maintaining your structure (1:26)
5) What is he seeing in Neil Pionk’s game this season? (1:55)
6) Has he noticed more physicality from Pionk? (2:20)
7) Has he noticed him jumping up into the play more? (2:34)
8) The job Marty St. Louis has done as coach (2:53)
9) Looking to get Laurent Brossoit into a game before break? (3:26)

Betway Odds:

Montreal has gone 4-4-2 in their last ten games which is appropriate because they’ve picked up half of the points they could have this entire season sitting with 30 points in 30 games with ranks them 6th in the Atlanta division. They’ve been a better road team (6-4-2) then they are at home (7-9-2) but what stands out is their goal differential of -20. Winnipeg has played one fewer game and they have allowed 28 fewer goals against while they’ve also scored 13 more goals (84 vs 97) which is why the home team has a goal differential of +21. Not surprisingly the oddsmakers are giving a big edge to the home team. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6:30 pm CST.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. You can also join us afterwards for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show. (Please be sure to smash that like/subscribe button).