Game 4: Winnipeg Jets vs Vegas Golden Knights pre-game report

The Jets find themselves at 1-2-0 on the season after a disheartening loss to the Kings on Tuesday which not only cost them a ‘W’ but also cost them their first line winger in Gabriel Vilardi who suffered an MCL sprain and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.

The only other question mark for Winnipeg is the status of Mason Appleton who didn’t practice on Wednesday. Coach Rick Bowness said it was a maintenance day and if he plays then he is expected to be on the top line for the Jets.

What we do know for certain is that Laurent Brossoit gets the start in net against his former club.

Skate news:

It is an optional this morning although Mason Appleton is skating.

As noted by the eagle eyes of Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press defenceman Nate Schmidt stayed out for extra work and Logan Stanley came off the ice early.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Appleton
Ehlers-Namestnikov-Perfetti
Iafallo-Lowry-Niederreiter
Barron-Kupari-Gustafsson

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-Samberg

Brossoit
Hellebuyck

Player pre-game interviews:

Coach pre-game interview:

Topics included:

1) Logan Stanley drawing in for Nate Schmidt
2) Will Stanley be paired with Samberg? (:47)
3) Why was Mason Appleton the right guy to get promoted? (1:12)
4) Does he feel there is more offence to Appleton’s game? (1:57)
5) Do they need Logan Stanley to be more physical? (2:30)
6) Changes to the PP units with Vilardi & Schmidt out (3:38)
7) Rasmus Kupari & David Gustafsson on PKs and faceoffs (4:30)
8) His conversation with Cole Perfetti on move to the wing (5:12)
9) Plan for Gabe Vilardi for next 4-6 weeks? (5:57)

Betway Odds:

The Golden Knights come into this game undefeated having won all four of their games played while posting a +10 goal differential. Meanwhile the Jets are in some turmoil despite playing two strong games of their three this season with the injury upsetting the line stability. Somewhat surprisingly, the experts have the visitors as favourites in this contest, which isn’t the surprising part. It’s because the difference between the two is relatively close. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 7 pm CDT.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action which includes post-game interview 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).