Game 58: Jets vs Islanders pre-game report

The Jets were off on Tuesday after Connor Hellebuyck and his 50 save performance led them to victory over the Rangers on Monday night.

While they weren’t on the ice they did make some news as the team placed Cole Perfetti on IR and they recalled (on an emergency basis) Axel Jonsson-Fjallby from the Moose. Might we see the speedy winger return to the lineup feeling good about his game after he scored three goals and added one assist (he also had a shootout goal) in his four games with Manitoba?

The other lineup questions surround whether Rick Bowness will re-insert Dylan Samberg back into the lineup and which netminder gets the start.

Skate news:

According to Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet goalie Connor Hellebuyck going through his regular starter routine. He also indicated that David Gustafsson is back in a regular uniform after wearing a non-contact sweater. As you can see from the line rushes and D pairs below from Ken the only change at forward is a swap of Gagner and Kuhlman on the third and fourth lines and it looks like Dylan Samberg will return and Logan Stanley will sit.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Rittich

Betway Odds:

The Islanders are coming off a big win over the Penguins on Monday as they jockey with a number of Eastern Conference teams for a wild card spot. They are 6-2-2- in their last ten games with a +5 goal differential. They have been excellent at USB Arena with a 17-10-3 record. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Player availability

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) Bringing Axel Jonsson-Fjallby up. Do they have other injury concerns?
2) Status of David Gustafsson and whether he could use a conditioning stint? (:20)
3) What did he think of Mason Appleton with 55 and 81? (:37)
4) Appleton getting back up to speed after injury (1:01)
5) Putting Dylan Samberg back in (1:42)
6) Having Eric Dubois up with the team (2:20)
7) Latest on assistant coach Brad Lauer? (2:42)
8) Some tweaks to the power play (3:09)

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).