Game 49: Jets vs Predators pre-game report

The Jets are looking to conclude their five-game road trip with a win tonight in Nashville, Tennessee against the Predators after battling four Eastern Conference teams in a row (Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Philadelphia).

The Preds are trying to stay relevant in the Western Conference Playoff race (currently five points back of the Calgary Flames for the last Wildcard spot)

The only expected change is Connor Hellebuyck in net. It is worth noting that Jeff Hamilton of the Winnipeg Free Press reported that on Sunday (as per associate coach Scott Arniel) that defenceman Logan Stanley could be ready to come off IR and be a player tonight. If Stanley does come off IR then the Jets would need to make a corresponding move to ensure they are roster compliant. I thought they might punt that decision by having Stanley go to the Moose on a conditioning assignment but that doesn’t appear to be the way that they are going to go.

The other question mark is Axel Jonsson-Fjallby who had to be helped off the ice at the end of the game in Philly on Sunday.

Skate news:

No update from Nashville.

Lineup news:

Jets bench boss Rick Bowness was asked by Jeff Hamilton if there are any lineup changes for tonight’s game to which he replied “we’ve got a couple of game-time decisions” without going into any further detail. Which means we will have to wait for warm-ups skate to see what happens.

Health update:

Rick Bowness was also asked by Jeff for a status update on Logan Stanley. The Jets bench indicated that the big defenceman is “getting closer”. While the team hasn’t seen him play a lot this year Bowness added “…in camp and the games he did play we liked his physicality, we liked his size back there. So he’s getting closer to playing.”

Activated/Reassigned:

The Jets announced that they have activated Logan Stanley off IR. That move necessitated them reassigning Ville Heinola to the Moose to ensure they are roster compliant.

Warm-up:

As per Jamie Thomas of the Jets the birthday boy (Dylan Samberg) is out and Logan Stanley is in. And Connor Hellebuyck, as expected, gets the start. Perhaps Samberg tweaked something in the last game given some players were “game-time decisions”.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Rittich

Betway Odds:

The Preds won their last game (5-3 over the Los Angeles Kings) and are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games while the Jets have won two straight games. Nashville has been a good team at home with a solid 12-7-3 record while Winnipeg comes to Tennessee with a 14-10-1 road record. Bit of a disparity when it comes to goal differentials with the visitors sitting at +33 while the home side is at -7. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Players media availability:

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) Focus on the final game of the road trip?
2) His thoughts on the Predators (:43)
3) Status of Logan Stanley? (1:23)
4) Maintaining communication with all players (1:51)
5) Any lineup changes? (2:14)

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 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).