Game 39: Winnipeg Jets vs Toronto Maple Leafs pre-game report

The Jets appear to have hit rock bottom sitting dead last in the entire NHL and while they probably deserved a few more points than they earned last month they completed the December calendar with just two wins including a 2-1 defeat last night to the Wings in Detroit. Shocking for a team that won the Presidents’ Trophy last season although not as shocking if you’ve been watching this team since the start of the campaign.

While things are going better for the Leafs than the team they are hosting this evening, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for them right now as they sit on the outside of the playoff line. The good news for the Leafs is they are only four points back of the second wild card spot.

While they are 4-4-2 in their last ten games they’ve been very good at home going 13-5-5 record at Scotiabank Arena. They have a weaker power play (25th overall) but a very solid penalty kill (4th overall).

Skate news:

No morning skate as the Jets played last night.

Warm-up news:

As per Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press a few changes for the Jets lineup. Koepke in for Niederreiter, Miller in for Schenn and Comrie starts.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Barron-Lowry-Pearson
Perfetti-Toews-Iafallo
Koepke-Namestnikov-Nyquist

Morrissey-Pionk
Samberg-DeMelo
Stanley-Miller

Comrie

Leafs projected lines & D pairs:

Maccelli -Tavares -McMann
Knies -Matthews – Domi
Lorentz -Laughton -Jarnkrok
Cowan – Roy – Robertson

Rielly -Myers
McCabe – Ekman Larsson
Benoit -Stecher

Woll
Hildeby

Players media availability:

Coach media availability:

Odds:

Toronto enters this matchup with the advantage, supported by their overall form and expectations coming into the game. Winnipeg takes on the underdog role in a difficult matchup, as the Maple Leafs appear to have the edge on paper heading into this contest. For the latest Winnipeg Jets hockey odds, visit NHL betting site Betway.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6 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 8:40 PM CST as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.