Game 41: Winnipeg Jets vs Chicago Blackhawks pre-game report

This game represents a tale of two teams with Winnipeg being the best team in the Central division (and the NHL) while the Blackhawks come into the game sitting dead last in the division. The visitors weren’t helped by the fact that they lost rookie phenom Connor Bedard to a fractured jaw which will keep him out of the lineup 6-8 weeks according to reports. That is tough news for a Chicago team that already has Seth Jones, Taylor Hall, Tyler Johnson, Andreas Athanasiou, Anthony Beauvillier and Nick Foligno on IR. That is quite the laundry list of injured players.

Meanwhile the Jets comes into this game having won seven straight games with points in 13 straight (11-0-2) while the Hawks counter with a 2-7-1 record in their last ten games although they did beat the Flames two games ago and held the Oilers to a 2-1 win in their last contest.

The home team held an optional practice on Wednesday so we didn’t get a chance to see if they will be making any changes although the only one they are likely to make is Laurent Brossoit in net.

Morning Skate:

No Axel Jonsson-Fjallby this morning with Kyle Connor (yellow, non-contact) skating in his place. Expecting 71 to play but we will see what coach says.

No Laurent Brossoit who skated yesterday. Looks like he starts.

Mark Scheifele wearing ear protection.

Update:

Via Scott Billeck of the Sun it turns out AJF is sick and if he isn’t able to go then the Jets will go 11/7.

Warm-up skate news:

Warm up skate getting underway here in Winnipeg and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby is on the ice So is Logan Stanley if they decided that 71 can’t go and they go 11/7.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Brossoit
Hellebuyck

Player media:

Coach media:

Not speaking today.

Betway Odds:

The goal differential disparity is quite something as Winnipeg is a +43 while Chicago counters with a -58. Also doesn’t help that the Hawks are a terrible road team (4-17-1) while the Jets are, no surprise, a very good team at home (14-5-2). Given this and how well the Jets are playing it isn’t a surprise that the oddsmakers are giving the big edge to the home team for this contest. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

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. You can also join us afterwards for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show. (Please be sure to smash that like/subscribe button).