Game 59: Winnipeg Jets vs Carolina Hurricanes pre-game report

The Jets are coming off a tough 4-1 loss to the Stars in Dallas which kicked off their road trip on the wrong skate. They also got some bad news on Gabriel Vilardi who didn’t finish the last game in the 3rd period (although he stayed on the bench) as he was dealing with an upper-body injury as per head coach Rick Bowness. However there were three other Jets (Appleton, Ehlers & Monahan) who were also listed by the bench boss of Winnipeg as game-time decisions.

For now the projected lines are simply based on last game but won’t be known till warm-up gets underway at 11 AM CST. Only thing we do know for certain is that Connor Hellebuyck gets the start for the Jets.

The Hurricanes and Jets have similar records separated by just one point. Like Winnipeg, Carolina is in a battle for top spot in their division although unlike the visitors in today’s game, it’s a two horse race with the home team trying to catch the Rangers who lead them by four points. The ‘Canes have score more often than the Jets (21 more goals) but they also give up more (28 more goals against). Carolina has gone 7-2-1 in their last ten including two straight wins.

Morning Skate:

None.

Lineup update:

As per Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press no Brenden Dillon today as he is under the weather which means Logan Stanley draws in.

Warm-up update:

No Gabriel Vilardi (inj) and no Cole Perfetti (as per radio play by play voice Paul Edmonds he’s a healthy scratch) which means David Gustafsson and Rasmus Kupari draw in.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Namestnikov
Ehlers-Monahan-Iafallo
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Gustafsson-Kupari

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 11:30 AM CST.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. Reminder to join us on the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show following the final buzzer between the Jets and Hurricanes.