Game 51: Winnipeg Jets vs San Jose Sharks pre-game report

After two days of practice the Jets will conclude this two-game homestand this evening against the Sharks. It is the final game of Brenden Dillon‘s suspension. After having a rather full 23-man roster plus two players on IR the last little bit they have trimmed things down most recently putting Dominic Toninato on waivers on Sunday (he cleared) and then sending David Gustafsson to the Moose on a conditioning loan on Monday.

Only thing unknown for the game from a Jets perspective is which goalie starts.

The Sharks last game was the last day of January which was an OT loss to their Pacific basement dwelling rival Ducks. This will be their first game in two weeks which means to expect some rust from a club that sits fighting with the Blackhawks for the worst record in the NHL.  In fact Winnipeg has as many road wins (14) as San Jose had total wins (you guessed it…14). The visitors come into today’s game with 107 goals for (worst in the NHL) and 199 goals against (worst in the NHL).

What’s worse is that two days ago it was announced that leading scorer Tomas Hertl would be sidelined for a few weeks after having surgery to remove loose cartilage in his knee. They will also be without captain Logan Couture who is expected to be out on a week-to-week basis after an injury setback as per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now although he’s been limited to just six games this season.

Morning Skate:

It’s an optional morning skate here in Winnipeg with ten skaters and two goalies (Brossoit and practice goalie Jason Kasdorf) on the ice. Skating are: Mason Appleton, Logan Stanley, Alex Iafallo, Morgan Barron, Dylan Samberg, Rasmus Kupari, Cole Perfetti, Brenden Dillon, Mark Scheifele and  Josh Morrissey.

Warm-up skate:

Unlike last game no Rasmus Kupari taking warm-up skate for the Jets which I would take to mean whichever forward was nicked up is doing better.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Ehlers
Perfetti-Monahan-Vilardi
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Namestnikov-Iafallo

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Players media:

Coach media:

Topics:
1) Facing a Sharks team that hasn’t played in two weeks.
2) Previous games vs San Jose/improvements needed (:46)
3) Just how good it is for NHL when McDavid does what he does (1:33)
4) What has he seen from Dylan Samberg in an elevated role? (2:13)
5) What signs is he looking for from his 2nd line? (2:36)
6) Sean Monahan being beside Cole Perfetti in locker room (3:11)
7) How have they been so good 5 on 5 this season? (3:50)

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6:30 pm CST.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. You can also join us afterwards for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show. (Please be sure to smash that like/subscribe button).