Game 59: Jets vs Avalanche pre-game report

The Jets left Winnipeg to head out on the road sitting in 2nd place in the Central and despite going 1-3-0 they remain in 2nd place in the Central just one back of Dallas in top spot. However, the problem for the Jets is that tonight’s opponent in the Avalanche as well as the Wild have been gaining ground on them and the Stars as the two top teams have stumbled.

There are some lineup question marks for the club as they have Axel Jonsson-Fjällby up on an emergency basis and they also had David Gustafsson, who is/was on IR, practicing in a normal uniform on Wednesday morning. Speaking of IR that is where rookie Cole Perfetti went after the game against the Devils and now that he has likely been evaluated we may get more insight into the severity of his injury.

Skate news:

As per Mitchell Clinton of Jets TV goalie Connor Hellebuyck going through his starter’s routine at the well attended (according to Murat Ates of The Athletic Winnipeg) optional morning skate. For now it is based on last game.

Warm-up:

Only change was Jonsson-Fjallby coming in for Gagner.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Rittich

Betway Odds:

Colorado has won three straight, they’ve gone 6-2-2 in their last ten and currently hold down the second wild card spot in the West but have games in hand on all the teams they are chasing including Winnipeg. Interestingly they are a better road team (17-10-4) than they are at home (14-9-4) and we shall have to see how that matches up against the 20-8-0 Jets at Canada Life. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Player availability

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) How much does he pay attention to moves around the NHL?
2) What’s biggest deadline day/week for him in his career?
3) Has this team put themselves into a place to do something?
4) What’s the latest with Cole Perfetti?
5) Common thread when they play a “complete 60”?
6) With injury to 91 how much more pressure is there ahead of trade deadline?
7) When do the conversations start about trades and team needs?
8) How much is the play leading up to the trade deadline impact what a GM does?
9) Short term solutions to losing Perfetti?
10) How does he help players with pressures leading up to trade deadline?]
11) Is he still seeing the D being active enough?
12) Is he seeing any hesitancy from the Dmen?
13) The nature of the meeting before today’s media availability?
14) What has the goalie position changed from one main goalie to a tandem?
15) On why Mikey Eyssimont wasn’t able to stick in Winnipeg.

Health news:

As per Jets head coach Rick Bowness rookie Cole Perfetti will miss a minimum of eight weeks with an upper-body injury.

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 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).