Game 41: Jets vs Red Wings pre-game report

As the Jets hit the midpoint of the season they currently sit third in the Western Conference with a 26-13-1 record which isn’t too shabby given the pre-season predictions from many pundits as well as the litany of injuries they’ve dealt with the last few months. They currently bring a five-game win streak on this three-game road trip which starts in Detroit against a Red Wings team that has lost three straight and sit 12th in the Eastern Conference.

The only real lineup questions appear to be will the team continue to healthy scratch David Gustafsson and Ville Heinola (as well as Kyle Capobianco) and how close is Saku Maenalanen to a return? Given how the team has won five in-a-row it seems unlikely they make any lineup changes.

It will be the first time former Jets forward Andrew Copp faces his old club as the Michigan native signed a five-year deal to play for the Red Wings this summer. It hasn’t been a great campaign so far as he has just three goals and 18 assists in 38 games. And while it won’t be the first time they face Ben Chiarot it will be the first time they do it when he wears a winged wheel jersey.

Skate news:

As per Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet some changes tonight as Ville Heinola and David Gustafsson both look like they will draw in for Dylan Samberg and Kevin Stenlund. Wieber provides the lines and D pairs below.

Lineup:

As per Rick Bowness centre Kevin Stenlund is a game-time decision as he deals with an illness. If he is ok then it sounds like he plays in place of David Gustafsson.

Warm-up:

Turns out it isn’t just Kevin Stenlund who is under the weather as is Ville Heinola according to Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Dubois-Ehlers
Perfetti-Scheifele-Wheeler
Barron-Lowry-Kuhlman
Jonsson-Fjallby-Gustafsson-Gagner

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Rittich

Betway Odds:

The Jets are feeling good about themselves having won five straight and for the first time in awhile they started the game on time against the Canucks on Sunday. While the Wings have lost their last three games they are still 9-8-3 at home so Winnipeg would be well advised to get off to a good start. Detroit doesn’t have much offence this season scoring just 114 goals to date which puts them 24th in the NHL. It should come as no surprise that the visitors are the heavy favourites. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Players media availability:

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) Challenges that he faced and how he thinks things have gone at midpoint?
2) Status of Kevin Stenlund? (1:18)
3) Thoughts behind swapping Ville Heinola for Dylan Samberg (1:38)
4) Is Saku Maenalanen possible for the back-to-back? (2:14)
5) Are the changes he made bringing out Connor Hellebuyck’s best? (2:34)
6) What’s most important lesson he’s learned about group in first half? (3:13)
7) Reflecting on last month (schedule/injuries/wins) (3:51)
8) If they win tnt, he goes to the All-Star game as coach (4:33)
9) Significance of being 1st in the Central (5:19)
10) What has he learned about Kyle Connor’s game? (5:42)
11) Benefit of coaching in same division as Jets or best coming in with blank slate. (6:14)

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6:00 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).