Game 5: Jets vs Leafs pre-game report

The Jets return home after going 1-2-0 on their first road trip of the season. The team will be without dynamic winger Nikolaj Ehlers for at least two more games after he was placed on IR on Friday. There is also a question mark surrounding Dylan Samberg who didn’t play in Vegas on Thursday. We do know that Dominic Toninato was recalled from the Moose yesterday.

The other question mark for Winnipeg is the status of head coach Rick Bowness who has been out of commission with covid which caused him to miss the home opener the Friday before last and all three games on the road including against his former team in Dallas.

Skate news:

The questions were partly answered as head coach Rick Bowness was out on the ice for the optional skate. Missing are Josh Morrissey and Dylan Samberg. We will have to wait and see what their status is when the bench boss speaks following skate.

Kyle Capobianco and Dominic Toninato still on the ice following the conclusion of the Jets optiional skate.

For now the lines and D pairs are based on last game.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Appleton
Perfetti-Dubois-Wheeler
Barron-Lowry-Maenalanen
Gagner Gustafsson Jonsson-Fjallby

Morrissey-Pionk
Dillon-Schmidt
Stanley-Demelo

Hellebuyck
Rittich

Betway Odds:

The Leafs looked like they were in a bit of organizational disarray, but they got back on track with an OT win over Dallas. The odds are in the favour of the visitors although with their 3-2-0 record as well as their 14 goals for and 14 goals against perhaps that it inflated. The Jets have shown that they can flush a bad performance and if they can do that after what happened in Vegas, perhaps that will hold them in good stead against Toronto. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Player media availability:

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) How did the team handle his absence?
2) What did not being there prevent him from doing? (1:28)
3) How did covid impact him? (2:28)
4) Facing the Leafs (4:00)
5) Timeline for Nikolaj Ehlers? (4:44)
6) Was this the first time he’s missed games of a team he is coaching? (5:25)
7) Leafs beefing up lineup with Simmons and Cliffond (6:03)
8) How have they played to the identity he wants for them through four games? (6:36)
9) Disappointment of missing game vs Dallas (7:32)
10) What did he see after Stars game that led to lineup changes? (7:56)
11) Does he like the Morrissey/Pionk pairing? (8:29)
12) Should Dylan DeMelo have pinched on first Vegas goal? (9:06)

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6:00 pm CDT.  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).