Game 59: Winnipeg Jets vs Ottawa Senators pre-game report

The Jets have won 10 straight games coming into tonight’s contest with the Senators although the last two games required them to tie the game in the last minute of both games before ultimately prevailing which is apparently the first time in NHL history that has happened. Of course as neat as that stat may be one suspects Scott Arniel and his coaching staff would prefer to be in control of the game not playing catch up. The only lineup question mark would appear to be Morgan Barron who is close according to Arniel.

Their opponent will be in a surly mood given they’ve lost four straight games and they now find themselves one point out of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference after the Blue Jackets won last night. The good news for the home team is they’ve been good at their home barn with a 16-8-2 record. They don’t score very often (23rd least goals in the NHL) but they also don’t give up a ton (10th best goals against). They are dealing with quite a few injuries according to beat writer Bruce Garrioch who wrote yesterday in his column that it seems unlikely Sens captain Brady Tkachuk is ready for the game and that could hold as well as for Shane Pinto.

Recall news:

Jets announce they have recalled forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan from the Moose. Likely just as insurance as they do not have an extra forward with Barron still on the shelf.

Skate news:

As per Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press no changes from the lineup they used on Monday aside from Hellebuyck starting.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Miller

Hellebuyck

Senators projected lines & D pairs:

Crookshank-Stutzle-Giroux
Perron-Greig-Batherson
Highmore-Gaudette-Amadio
Gregor-Jenik

Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Jensen
Kleven-Matinpalo
Hamonic

Ullmark

Based on yesterday’s practice according to Bruce Garrioch.

Today’s update from Claire Hanna of TSN is that head coach Travis Green has indicated Shane Pinto, Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris aren’t ready to return. She also indicated it is Linus Ullmark in net. The Sens PR announced the recall of Angus Crookshank and Jan Jenik from their AHL affiliate.

Coach’s comments:

To follow.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6 PM CST. Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. You can join us on our YouTube channel for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show around 8:40 PM CST as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.