Game 43: Winnipeg Jets vs New York Islanders pre-game report

The Jets lost their first regulation game in a month on Saturday and will be looking to get back on track this evening when they continue this run against the Eastern Conference when they welcome the Islanders to town to conclude their four-game homestand.

Plenty of question marks exist for the Jets who were without Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers at practice on Monday. They did have David Gustafsson joining Kyle Connor in a regular jersey but no indication if either are an option tonight.

The Islanders played last night in St. Paul where the lost 5-0 to the Wild which was their second consecutive loss. They’ve gone 3-6-1 in their last ten games which has allowed a surging Penguins team to pass them in the Metro standings.

Morning Skate:

No Mark Scheifele or Gabriel Vilardi this morning.

Here are how things lined up at skate but it’s worth noting Rick Bowness said they expect Gabriel Vilardi to play.

Connor-Lowry-Iafallo
Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Toninato-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-AJF

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Lowry-Vilardi
Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Toninato-Iafallo
Barron-Kupari-Appleton

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Updates from coach:

He confirmed Kyle Connor returns to the lineup. As a result the Jets will place Mark Scheifele on IR retroactive to December 11th (meaning he is eligible to play in Ottawa on Saturday if healthy). Gabriel Vilardi is dealing with an illness so he was told to stay home but said they are expecting him to play tonight.

Player media:

Coach media:

Topics:
1. Status of Kyle Connor?
2. Getting Kyle Connor back (:20)
3. Updates on Mark Schefiele & Gabriel Vilardi (:46)
4. Illness bug passing through the room (1:05)
5. Clarity on Mark Scheifele being on IR (1:18)
6. Getting a star player back in the lineup (1:31)
7. What happens to lineup if Gabriel Vilardi plays? (2:10)
8. Thoughts on the Islanders who played last night (2:21)
9. What has he seen from Adam Lowry in elevated role? (3:09)

Betway Odds:

While both teams lost their last game for Winnipeg it was, as illustrated above, just the first one in a long time while New York is on a slide right now. They haven’t been a particularly strong road team this season (8-9-4) while the Jets remain a very good club at home (15-6-2). 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).