Game 37: Winnipeg Jets vs San Jose Sharks pre-game report

The Sharks are in a swoon. Maybe that’s too polite. They are in complete freefall having lost nine straight games. They sit dead last in the Pacific division. Winnipeg counters as the team sitting in second spot in the Central division, having won three straight and are 7-1-2 in their last 10. Of course folks talk about trap games and Winnipeg would do well to remember what happened less than a month ago when the power play wasn’t firing (it still isn’t) and they lost 2-1 to a bad San Jose team (although it’s worth noting that team was doing better during that time then was reflected by their record).

Yesterday at the Jets highly optional practice we saw Kyle Connor and David Gustafsson in non-contact uniform while Ville Heinola and Rasmus Kupari were in regular jerseys. There weren’t any battle drills because head coach Rick Bowness had said when there are that Heinola would be in a non-contact as well. Problem for Kupari is the next practice for Winnipeg won’t be until January 10th so it may be tough for him to be ready to go. Not that the team needs any help as the 4th line of AJF, Morgan Barron and Dominic Toninato is contributing on a nightly basis.

Morning Skate:

As per Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press the change we saw in the game against Tampa (flipping Scheifele and Namestnikov) will be continued today.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Coach media:

Tips:

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Topics:

1) Flipping Scheifele/Namestnikov
2) Reflecting back on the last time they were in San Jose (:23)
3) Getting off to a strong start (1:02)
4) What was first domino that needed changing when he took over? (1:51)
5) The Jets team game (2:31)
6) What has stood out about Connor Hellebuyck’s play during this stretch? (3:13)

Betway Odds:

The Jets come into this game as one of the hottest teams in the NHL with a very respectable +31 goal differential. The Sharks counter with a more modest -80 (dear mama). The Shark Tank has been a better place for them to be this season going 6-10-2 at home but Winnipeg is both a good home (13-5-2) and road team (10-4-2). The oddsmakers are giving the big edge to the visiting team for this contest. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 9:30 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).