Tonight will be a battle of two former central division juggernauts who have fallen on some tough times. Winnipeg sits fifth in the division with 56 points while Nashville is just one point back of them with two games in hand. And both are looking up at the Coyotes who hold down the second wild card spot with 59 points.
Which makes tonight’s contest a pretty, pretty, pretty important game.
Morning Skate:
As per usual it is an optional morning skate for the Jets according to Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun. He indicates that Connor Hellebuyck isn’t participating which likely means he will be the starter in tonight’s game.
Jets Projected Lines & D Pairs:
Connor-Scheifele-Laine
Ehlers-Wheeler-Appleton
Harkins-Copp-Roslovic
Bourque-Shore-Shaw
Morrissey-Pionk
Kulikov-Niku
Bitetto-Sbisa
Hellebuyck
Brossoit
Audio:
Josh Morrissey on Dustin Byfuglien, the legacy that 33 leaves behind, the legacy that 33 leaves behind, keeping in touch with Byfuglien, facing the Predators and his favourite Dustin Byfuglien memory.
Coach Maurice on the ending of Dustin Byfuglien’s time in Winnipeg, thoughts on the Predators and what he wants to see from his team, whether he has noticed any changes to the Preds since coaching change, the challenges presented by the centre depth of Nashville, more on Byfuglien’s legacy and will there be any lineup changes?
Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.
Roster Moves:
Coach Maurice confirmed that Nathan Beaulieu is coming off IR and Mathieu Perreault is heading onto it.
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 audio from the Jets room as well as from Coach Maurice.