Game 31: Winnipeg Jets vs Vegas Golden Knights pre-game report

The Jets were focused on moving forward from their demolition of the Bruins on Tuesday night (aside from the focus on the Gustafsson/Frederic ’tilt’). Still no Nikolaj Ehlers who has been skating on his own ahead of the team this week which means it looks like Nikita Chibrikov, based on yesterday’s practice, will get his second straight game as he looks to continue to build on a solid first (1G 1A) contest. We know David Gustafsson is unlikely as we learned he is in concussion protocol.

They know that tonight will be a step up in competition as they take on the 1st place in the Pacific Division Golden Knights who have won three straight games and are currently on a 7-2-1 record. Vegas hasn’t been as strong away from Nevada (7-4-3) as they have been at home (11-3-0) but given how much talent this team possesses they aren’t to be taken lightly based on geography. They’ve got the sixth ranked power play in the NHL and 17th ranked penalty kill.

Skate news:

It’s an optional morning skate for the Jets.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey-DeMelo
Fleury-Pionk
Stanley-Heinola

Hellebuyck

Golden Knights projected lines & D pairs:

Barbashev-Eichel-Stone
Howden-Karlsson-Dorofeyev
Olofsson-Hertl-Holtz
Pearson-Roy-Kolesar

McNabb-Theodore
Hanifin-Pietrangelo
Hague-Whitecloud

Hill
Samsonov

As of December 10th as per Danny Webster who is a Vegas Golden Knights reporter for the Review-Journal.

Player media:

Coach media:

Topics:

1) What stands out about the Golden Knights?
2) Does he expect his team to be close to “themselves” tonight? (:30)
3) What has come out of last few days that will serve them well? (1:30)
4) Any lineup changes? Any more news on Gustafsson? (2:01)
5) Did Nikolaj Ehlers skate today? When might he join team skate? (2:18)
6) Defending rush chances (2:32)
7) How does Nikita Chibrikov sustain & build off solid first game? (3:36)
8) How is he different than last time he was a head coach in the NHL? (4:16)
9) Update on Dylan Samberg? Timeline? (5:06)

Up Next:

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.