Game 43: Jets vs Penguins pre-game report

The Jets have now won six of their last seven games after they defeated the Sabres 4-2 last night in Buffalo. They will have a tough task tonight against a well rested Penguins team in Pittsburgh.

After morning skate on Thursday it seemed likely that Saku Maenalanen would come off IR today but instead with David Gustafsson dealing with an upper-body injury and Morgan Barron sick, the team activated Maenalanen off IR (placing Gustafsson on it).

Dylan Samberg blocked a shot with his hand and while he finished the game it is possible that Ville Heinola, who was dealing with an illness, could return if he is unable to play.

The expectation is that David Rittich will have the net given Connor Hellebuyck faced 41 shots in the win.

Skate news:

No morning skate.

Recall news:

The Jets announced that they have recalled Jansen Harkins from the Moose and have reassigned Ville Heinola to Manitoba (in order to make room for Harkins).

Lineup news:

As per Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet via the media availability with Jets head coach Rick Bowness who indicated that Cole Perfetti is a game-time decision and if he cannot play then Jansen Harkins will. He also confirmed that David Rittich is in net.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Perfetti-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Dubois-Ehlers
Maenalanen-Lowry-Kuhlman
Jonsson-Fjallby-Stenlund-Gagner

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Rittich
Hellebuyck

Betway Odds:

The Penguins have been off since a 5-4 win over the Canucks on Tuesday which was their second straight win. The oddsmakers have them as the big favourites despite the fact that they are 3-5-2 in their last ten games. They have been very good at home with a 11-4-4 record at PPG Paint Arena. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Coach media availability:

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).