Game 39: Jets vs Lightning pre-game report

The Jets could have quite a few “new” faces in the lineup with as many as four guys (Perfetti, Wheeler, Ehlers and Schmidt) potentially available to play. Of course whether head coach Rick Bowness wants to put that many players in at once remains to be seen.

Skate news:

It is an optional but as per Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet no Connor Hellebuyck which means he’ll start tonight. David Gustafsson, Ville Heinola and Kyle Capobianco are staying on for extra work says Wieber so it appears they will be the scratches tonight and the Jets will have four players return to the lineup.

Lineup news:

Jets head coach Rick Bowness confirms that: Nikolaj Ehlers, Blake Wheeler, Cole Perfetti and Nate Schmidt will all play tonight.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Dubois-Ehlers
Perfetti-Scheifele-Wheeler
Barron-Lowry-Kuhlman
Jonson-Fjallby Stenlund Gagner

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Rittich

Betway Odds:

The Jets come in having won three straight and boast a 14-6-0 record at home while Tampa Bay counters with a 7-3-0 record in their last ten games. Despite the fact that the Lightning are 9-8-0 away from Florida the oddsmakers have given them the edge. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Players media availability:

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) Did he get all the all clear on the four players? The buzz in the room.
2) How will he monitor the four tonight? (1:00)
3) How did he tell Josh Morrissey he would be an All-Star? (1:37)
4) Is the season for 44 unfolding how he had hoped? (2:16)
5) What does coaching in his 2600th game mean to him? (3:00)
6) His thoughts on the All-Star vote? (3:24)
7) How long did it take team to get used to his system? (4:18)
8) Was the system meant to shore things up defensively or open up offensively? (5:22)
9) After 2600 games what keeps him going? (6:11)

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 7:00 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 for 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).