Game 46: Winnipeg Jets vs Seattle Kraken pre-game report

We heard from Haydn Fleury after practice on Wednesday which would seem to be an indicator that he’s ready to come off IR and return to the lineup. Will he play tonight or might they give him a few more days to be ready? He was paired with Colin Miller, who ditched his non-contact jersey for a regular one yesterday, and is another D man expected to return to the lineup soon. Based on yesterday it appeared both Stanley and Heinola are in but we’ll have to wait for morning skate to find out. Also we didn’t hear from Jets head coach Scott Arniel so we will have to wait and see if tonight’s is an Eric Comrie game in net or not.

The Kraken picked up a win in their last game but they remain eight points back of the second wild card spot in the West. They are 4-5-1 in their last ten games and are not a particularly strong road team sporting a 10-13-0 record. When it comes to special teams they sit 22nd overall on the power play and 23rd overall on the penalty kill.

Skate news:

No changes today as they stick with same lineup.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor – Scheifele – Vilardi
Ehlers – Lowry – Iafallo
Niederreiter – Kupari – Perfetti
Toninato – Gustafsson – Barron

Morrissey – DeMelo
Samberg – Pionk
Stanley – Heinola

Hellebuyck
Comrie

Kraken projected lines & D pairs:

Schwartz – Beniers – Kakko
Burakovsky – Stephenson – Bjorkstrand
McCann – Wright – Tolvanen
Hayden – Stephens – Tanev

Dunn – Larsson
Evans – Montour
Oleksiak – Mahura

Daccord/Grubauer

Player media:

Coach media:

Topics:
1) What has he learned about Dylan DeMelo?
2) Late draft pick to top pairing guy (:47)
3) What did he learn about Kraken? (1:17)
4) Haydn Fleury/Colin Miller options for Sat? (2:02)
5) Update on Vlad Namestnikov/Mason Appleton (2:27)
6) Like having 8 defenceman? (2:48)
7) Managing upcoming schedule (3:24)

Health updates:

As per head coach Scott Arniel both Haydn Fleury and Colin Miller are options for their game on Saturday night against the Flames. He also indicated that Vlad Namestnikov and Mason Appleton are skating on their own and are possibilities to skate (in non-contact uniforms) tomorrow with the team at practice.

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.