Game 41: Winnipeg Jets vs Vegas Golden Knights pre-game report

The midpoint of the NHL season is here for the Jets and they find themselves in the unenviable position of being the 32nd overall team. They are mired in a nine-game winless (0-6-3) streak which has seen them lose four straight games. Since going on a 9-3-0 run this team has gone 6-18-4. They are 11 points back of the second wild card in the West.

From a lineup perspective we know that Logan Stanley is not available for tonight’s game as he is serving his one-game suspension after Saturday’s punch to the face of Brady Tkachuk. Based on what we saw in practice on Monday it looks like Gustav Nyquist comes back in and Cole Koepke is out up front while Haydn Fleury and Luke Schenn will form that 3rd D pairing with Colin Miller coming out.

The Golden Knights are sitting in top spot in the Pacific but remarkably only have two more wins than the Jets (same number of regulation wins). The 46 points Vegas has, thanks to 12 overtime or shootout losses, would put them 4th in the Central sitting 12 points back of 3rd place. They have been on a bit of a skid themselves going 2-5-3 in their last ten games.

From a special teams perspective the visitors boast the 7th best power play in the NHL and the 10th best penalty kill. The home team continues to slide the wrong way now sitting with the 17th overall PP and the 21st overall PK.

Skate news:

Everyone present and accounted for at morning skate.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey – DeMelo
Samberg – Pionk
Fleury – Schenn

Hellebuyck

Golden Knights projected lines & D pairs:

Barbashev – Eichel – Stone
Marner – Hertl – Dorofeyev
Saad – Howden – Holtz
Reinhardt – Sissons – Kolesar

Hanifin – Hutton
Lauzon – Korczak
Megna – Whitecloud

Schmid

This is how the Golden Knights lined up in their last game (OT loss to the Hawks) as per Ryan the Hockey Guy who is the radio host for VGK Insider Show.

Players media availability:

Coach media availability:

Topics:
1) Preparing for Vegas.
2) Pairing Vilardi with Toews (1:06)
3) Logan Stanley suspension discussion (1:48)
4) Thinking behind making line changes (3:07)
5) Is individual adversity impacting the group? (4:09)

Odds:

This matchup shapes up as an evenly balanced contest, with neither Winnipeg nor Vegas holding a clear edge heading into the game. With the odds reflecting a true coin-flip scenario, both teams appear to be on level footing, setting the stage for a tightly contested battle where execution on the night should be the deciding factor. For the latest Winnipeg Jets hockey odds, visit NHL betting site Betway.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 7 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 9:40 PM CST as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.