Game 57: Winnipeg Jets vs St Louis Blues pre-game report

The Jets are bringing their eight-game win streak into tonight’s game with the Blues as they resume the stretch drive to the playoffs. We learned on Friday that they’ll do so without Connor Hellebuyck and Josh Morrissey but they will have a motivated Kyle Connor who was a healthy scratch Thursday night in the 4 Nations championship game. They will also have captain Adam Lowry on the trip as he returns to the lineup for the first time since January 20th when he was injured in Utah. Winnipeg starts the final 26 games as the top team in the NHL with a nine point cushion on the Stars who are second in the Central.

The Blues on the other hand are just 3-6-1 in the 10 games before the 4 Nations break although they did win their last game on February 8th when they defeated the Hawks in a shootout. They are eight points back of the second Wild Card spot which means points are at a premium for them with just 26 games left in their season. They had two players (goalie Jordan Binnington and defenceman Colton Parayko) who were winners with Canada and we don’t know if the plan is for them to play tonight or similar to the Jets give them the night off.

Just to highlight the disparity in goals for and goals against the Jets have scored 48 more times than the Blues and the visitors have given up 37 fewer goals than the home team. More disparity when it comes to special teams as Winnipeg sits 1st in the NHL with the league’s top power play while St. Louis is 23rd overall. When it comes to the penalty kill the Jets have climbed to the 14th spot while the Blues reside near the bottom in 30th.

Contract extension:

We were busy chatting Jets on this morning’s Illegal Curve Hockey Show when the news broke that Winnipeg had signed Vlad Namestnikov to a two-year contract extension.

Skate news:

According to Mitchell Clinton of the Jets it is an optional morning skate so he said we will have to wait for warm-up (unless head coach Scott Arniel says something during his media availability) as to how the final D pairs play out.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Ehlers-Namestnikov-Perfetti
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Iafallo-Gustafsson-Kupari

Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-DeMelo
Heinola-Miller
Fleury

Comrie
Kahkonen

Blues projected lines & D pairs:

Neighbours- Thomas – Buchnevich
Holloway – Schenn – Kyrou
Texier – Sundqvist – Joseph
Toropchenko – Faksa – Walker

Fowler–Parayko
Broberg – Faulk
Suter – Tucker

Hofer
Binnington

As per Lou Korac who covers the Blues for NHL.com

Coach’s comments:

To follow.

Up Next:

Reminder we’ve got two Illegal Curve broadcasts coming your way today as we return from our brief hiatus with an Illegal Curve Hockey Show starting at 9 AM CST Saturday morning which gets you set up for the game between the Jets and Blues. Later that night either join us live at Boston Pizza on Taylor Avenue for an IC Watch Party followed by the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show which starts around 8:40 PM CST.