Game 37: Jets vs Oilers pre-game report

The Jets were able to stop their losing streak and celebrate Sam Gagner‘s 1000th game on Thursday with a big 4-2 win over the Canucks which was like watching a pressure release valve go off as the team deals with a laundry list of injuries. The one big question mark from the game on Thursday, which wasn’t answered on Friday as Winnipeg used it as a travel day instead, is the status of Josh Morrissey.

We know from the Moose game last night that no defencemen were recalled by the Jets although they are currently at the roster maximum of 23 with another six guys on IR. Even if they moved Perfetti to IR to make room on the roster they do not have enough cap space to make a recall. If they do need a Dman the only player available would be Kyle Capobianco.

They also have right winger Kristian Reichel available.

Skate news:

As per radio play-by-play voice Paul Edmonds the Jets lineup for tonight includes Josh Morrissey as he is skating alongside Dylan DeMelo which means disaster averted for Winnipeg. The only change Paul indicated in the lineup is Kristian Reichel making his season debut as he comes in for Michael Eyssimont.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Dubois-Gagner
Lowry-Scheifele-Kuhlman
Barron-Stenlund-Jonsson-Fjallby
Harkins-Gustafsson-Reichel

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Dillon-Heinola

Hellebuyck
Rittich

Topics:

1)  Special to play on New Year’s Eve?
2) Thoughts on watching the Oilers game “live” last night.
3) Oilers shooting from different spots on the ice.

Betway Odds:

The Oilers were in Seattle last night and pulverized the Kraken by a final score of 7-2 and did it without Leon Draisaitl as he deals with some bumps and bruises according to reports. While Edmonton has won two straight, they are 5-3-2 in their last ten games and have a rather average home record of 9-9-1. Despite this I gather the Jets 9-7-1 record on the road wasn’t enough to convince the oddsmakers to favour them in tonight’s matchup. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Players media availability:

Coach media availability:

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 9:00 pm CST.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action which includes post-game interviews from Jets players as well as from head coach Rick Bowness.

You can also join us afterwards to ring in the New Year with the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show (be sure to smash that like/subscribe button). This season you’ll have a chance to win great schwag including authentic Jets jerseys, hats, etc after every single game (For a variety of ways to enter click here).