Game 65: Winnipeg Jets vs Nashville Predators pre-game report

The Jets got back to Winnipeg hockey on Monday night as they kicked off their three-game homestand with a tidy 3-0 shutout win over the Capitals. With the victory the home team improved to 7-3-0 in their last ten games as they continue to challenge Dallas for top spot in the Central.

That sound, the Jets, Stars and Avs hear behind them are a hard-charging Predators team that have gone 10-0-2 since February 17th as they have solidified themselves the 4th spot in the Central well ahead of the Blues and Wild. Despite all the fun you can have in Nashville they are a better team on the road (19-10-3) than they are at home (18-15-1). They have scored more than the Jets (15 more goals for) but they also give up a lot more than Winnipeg defensively (48 more goals against) with the visitors having played two more games this season.

The Jets weren’t on the ice yesterday so we don’t have any insight as to whether Gabriel Vilardi is skating although the expectation is he might not be a player for a bit.

Suspect they”ll keep Connor Hellebuyck between the pipes for this divisional match-up and then toss Laurent Brossoit in against the Ducks on Friday but we will have to wait and see what morning skate brings. As well it seems likely they roll same lineup that they used on Monday given how well it performed but as Rick Bowness likes to say “we’ll see”.

Morning Skate:

Connor Hellebuyck goes through his starting routine. Only guys not on the ice for the optional are Brenden Dillon, Gabriel Vilardi, Nikolaj Ehlers and Adam Lowry.

Lineup news:

Head coach Rick Bowness said the expectation is they’ll use same lineup as last game.

Warm-up news:

No Mark Scheifele today (presumably illness) and Rasmus Kupari is in.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Namestnikov-Ehlers
Iaffalo-Monahan-Toffoli
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-Perfetti

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Miller

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Health news:

“He’s working out. It’s slow coming around but he’s not skating in the next couple of days, from what I understand. That could change tomorrow.”.

Jets head coach Rick Bowness said they are keeping Gabriel Vilardi off ice until he tells them he’s ready.

Players media:

Coach media:

Topics:
1) Looking for consistency
2) What he sees from the Predators (:46)
3) Who is the Jets best hitter? (1:28)
4) Neal Pionk’s physicality (1:47)
5) Does it boost the team when he is? (2:11)
6) Does he ever have to reign him in? (2:19)
7) His competitiveness (2:43)
8) Same lineup tonight? (2:50)
9) Anything new with Gabriel Vilardi (3:04)
10) Two shutouts in last three games (3:24)

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6:30 PM CDT.  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 Capitals.