Game 61: Jets vs. Golden Knights pre-game report

Vegas baby.  Well with that out of the way the Jets and Golden Knights gonna have a little Western Conference Final re-match tonight in the desert.  The Jets had a new look at yesterday’s practice which included Nikolaj Ehlers in a regular uniform although coach Maurice had initially ruled him out of playing tonight (since updated see below).

For now the projected lines are based on yesterday’s skate and the D pairs are based on the last game.  They will be updated once morning skate gets underway.

Morning Skate:

Looks like Jets are taking an optional this morning as per Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun who indicates that Connor Hellebuyck, Jacob Trouba, Tyler Myers, Ben Chiarot and Adam Lowry are not skating.  Blake Wheeler has joined the Jets after taking Thursday off.

Ehlers said he is playing tonight so the lines will be adjusted during pre-game warm up skate as coach Maurice wasn’t prepared to provide an update.  Brendan Lemieux stay on for extra work as per Ken Wiebe so he will likely join Nic Petan and Tucker Poolman as healthy scratches.  Coach Maurice confirmed that he won’t confirm lines until pre-game skate (around 8:40 pm CT).

Jets projected lines, D pairs and starting goalie:

Laine-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Little-Ehlers
Copp-Lowry-Tanev
Perreault-Roslovic-Appleton

Morrissey-Trouba
Kulikov-Myers
Chiarot-Niku

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Audio:

Blake Wheeler

Kyle Connor

Nikolaj Ehlers

Josh Morrissey

Coach Maurice:  What changed between yesterday and today for Nikolaj Ehlers.  How will he be used?  Will he share who comes out?  Who starts?  Is this more about the Jets then facing the Golden Knights?  What can a game like tonight tell them about the team?  Any theory on the disparity between the home/road power play?  What was going through his mind when the power play goal was initially called off?  How important is Little as a model for the young players?

All audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 9 pm CT.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action which includes post-game audio from the Jets room as well as from coach Maurice.