Game 55: Jets vs Blue Jackets pre-game report

The Jets look to show that they can do some damage in the Eastern Conference during this four-game road trip which starts in Columbus against the Blue Jackets. To date Winnipeg has gone 10-11-0 vs opponents from the Eastern Conference which is quite the contrast to their 24-8-1 record at home in the Western Conference.

Goalie Connor Hellebuyck skated on Thursday at practice in Winnipeg after missing the game on Tuesday due to illness. Nate Schmidt, didn’t skate yesterday, as he elected to take a maintenance day according to Rick Bowness.

Skate news:

As per Ken Wiebe of Sportnet there has been a David Gustafsson sighting as the injured forward is skating in a non-contact jersey. He reports that Connor Hellebuyck is skating and that a number of players are exercising their options.

Wieber adds that David Rittich is off the ice first and will get the back-to-back starts. He added that Sam Gagner didn’t stay on for extra work so he anticipates he’ll likely draw in for Karson Kuhlman.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Ehlers-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Dubois-Perfetti
Barron-Lowry-Appleton
Maenalanen-Stenlund-Gagner

Morrissey-Pionk
Dillon-DeMelo
Samberg-Schmidt

Rittich
Hellebuyck

Betway Odds:

The Jets come into the game having won three straight (when you include the last game before the All-Star break) while the Blue Jackets are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games. Nationwide Arena has not proven to be home sweet home for Columbus as they are 11-17-2 while Winnipeg counters with a 14-11-1 road record. One of these teams has a +33 goal differential and the other is -70. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Player media availability:

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) David Rittich starting tonight.
2) Sam Gagner comes in for Karson Kuhlman (1:08)
3) Happy with how his team has started games? (1:30)
4) Getting confidence back on the power play (2:42)
5) What did Kevin Stenlund do to earn his trust? (3:33)
6) His response to being sent down to the AHL (4:35)
7) Making most of chances with Moose (5:25)
8) Passing of Winnipegger Paul Jerrard (6:01)
9) Development of Pierre-Luc Dubois (7:12)
10) Preparing for a team with a number of unknowns (8:02)

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6:00 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).