Game 48: Jets vs Kraken pre-game report

The Jets collected an important two points last night in a critical win over division rival Wild which they needed to do after suffering a tough loss to the Hawks on Monday. Today they show whether they are able to keep their feet on the gas against a Kraken team that has a -44 goal differential and a 7-13-2 record on the road.

It will be the first ever visit by 2015 6th rounder Mason Appleton after he was claimed by Seattle during the expansion draft last summer. No Brandon Tanev who is out for the season. There are also a pair of Manitobans in forward Morgan Geekie and goalie Chris Driedger who will (in the case of Geekie) or could (in the case of Driedger) be playing their first ever NHL games in Winnipeg.

Without the benefit of a morning skate no insight into who will be starting in goal for the Jets. Conventional wisdom would suggest it will be backup Eric Comrie who is coming off a very strong win over the Blues but that was almost three weeks ago. Ville Heinola did take warm up skate so it’s possible there could be a need on the backend and after Andrew Copp was hurt late in the 3rd his status could also be up in the air.

For now the lines are how they looked last night in the Winnipeg win against Minnesota.  Media availability starts at 11:15 AM.

Optional morning skate:

As per Mitchell Clinton of JetsTV a few players are skating this morning including a CJ Suess (in a non-contact uniform) which is the first time he’s taken in skate with the team. His last game was January 13th in Detroit. Also on the ice according to Mitch are Beaulieu (non contact) Perfetti, Poganski, Svechnikov, Reichel, Gustafsson, Heinola, Vesalainen and Eric Comrie as the only goalie taking part.

Health news:

No update on Andrew Copp from Jets interim head coach Dave Lowry saying “he will be evaluated”. No indication either way if he is playing. I suspect he isn’t but like I said the coach wasn’t tipping his hand. Which means you’ll have to stay tuned for warm-up skate around 6:30 PM.

If you missed the hit here it is.

Warm up skate news:

According to Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet it is indeed Eric Comrie getting the start in goal for the Jets.  Not surprisingly Andrew Copp isn’t on the ice according to Wieber who indicates that Kristian Vesalainen draws back in.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Dubois-Perfetti
Stastny-Scheifele-Wheeler
Vesalainen-Lowry-Reichel
Harkins-Toninato-Poganski

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-Schmidt

Comrie
Hellebuyck

Player media availability:

To follow.

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) Game planning against the Kraken.
2) Do they need to manufacture emotion for tonight’s game? (1:01)
3) Checking vs defending (1:51)
4) Getting to the front of the net on the power play (3:01)
5) Is it frustrating to still be searching for consistency in mid February? (3:44)
6) Any update on Andrew Copp? (4:24)
7) Keeping players invested in defensive system and seeing results offensively (5:06)
8) Seeing the Canadian women win the gold medal last night (5:43)

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 which includes post-game interviews from Jets players as well as from interim head coach Dave Lowry.

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