Game 48: Jets vs. Stars pre-game report

The Jets are on a roll right now and will look to close out this run of four straight games with a win (7-3-0 in last ten) with another victory tonight over Central Division rival Dallas.  The Stars on the other hand have lost four straight games(4-5-1 in last ten) and are just a single point ahead of a number of teams as they sit uncomfortably in the first wild card spot.  While the Jets have a comfortable lead in the Central (14 points on 3rd place Colorado) beating a fellow Central Division team to head to the Player and All-Star breaks on a high note would be good for the organization.

AM Skate:

No Blake Wheeler or Josh Morrissey at skate according to Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun.

Jets projected lines, D pairs and starting goalie:

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Laine-Little-Roslovic
Perreault-Lowry-Tanev
Lemieux-Copp-Appleton

Morrissey-Trouba
Kulikov-Myers
Morrow-Niku

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Audio:

Andrew Copp

Joe Morrow

Coach Maurice:  What is the challenge of the last game before the break?  On the Stars jumbling their lines.  Is it a good time for a break or does he wish they could keep it going the way they are playing?  Same lineup as Nashville.  Any highlights from the first 48 games?  On the timeframe for Byfuglien/Ehlers.   On what he is looking forward to at the All-Star weekend.  Status of Ben Chiarot.

All audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.

Health News:

Coach was asked about Dustin Byfuglien and Nikolaj Ehlers.  “The very first window on Byfuglien is right when we get back.  But there’s a two-week window on that so I don’t know is the answer.  I know he is back skating.  But he’s gotta get into practice I would think first.  Dustin’s a guy who is going to walk in the door and say alright coach I am ready to play. So we’ll have to see if we can get him on the ice once first.  Nikki’s probably a week after the break before his window opens and we won’t rush that.”  He was also asked about Ben Chiarot “The plan there was that if we needed him we could play him but after the three games here we’re quite hopeful that he is ready to roll right after the break.”

Stars projected lines, D pairs and starting goalie:

Janmark-Seguin-Radulov
Benn-Faksa-Comeau
Cogliano-Dickinson-Spezza
Gurianov-Hintz-Ritchie

Lindell-Klingberg
Heiskanen-Polak
Carrick-Fedun

Bishop
Khudobin

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6:00 pm CT.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action which includes post-game audio from the Jets room as well as from coach Maurice