Game 67: Jets vs Lightning pre-game report

The Jets picked up two big points last night in south Florida as they defeated the Panthers 5-4 in OT on HNIC. It wasn’t a clean win in more ways than one as head coach Rick Bowness indicated after the game that Winnipeg could be without Adam Lowry and Josh Morrissey for the game tonight labelling them as “very, very doubtful”. If they cannot play the team does have a number of options including Dylan Samberg, Kyle Capobianco, Sam Gagner, Axel Jonsson-Fjällby and Karson Kuhlman.

There was some thought that Connor Hellebuyck could get the start if he didn’t face too many shots but after he was peppered for 48 the safe bet is it will be David Rittich in net.

Skate news:

No morning skate given the team played yesterday. For now the lines and D pairs are based on last game and they’ll be updated either by head coach Rick Bowness or during warm-up.

Coach update:

As per Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet some updates from Tampa. He indicated that Rick Bowness advised that Connor Hellebuyck gets the start and that Adam Lowry will be a game-time decision with Karson Kuhlman, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Kyle Capobianco all taking warm-up skate. Josh Morrissey will not play with Dylan Samberg drawing back in. It’s possible he replaces Logan Stanley with Kyle Capobianco.

Warm-up skate:

Wieber confirms that Adam Lowry is taking his spot in line rushes and it looks like only change will be Dylan Samberg for Josh Morrissey.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Niederreiter
Ehlers-Namestnikov-Wheeler
Barron-Lowry-Appleton
Gustafsson-Stenlund-Maenalanen

Samberg-Demelo
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Rittich

Betway Odds:

The odds are not in the visitors favour and given that Tampa are an impressive 24-5-5 at home that makes a lot of sense. Despite their win against the Hawks last night the Bolts have been limping along going 3-4-3 in their last ten games and there is a question mark around Steven Stamkos who left last night’s win over Chicago early. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) Who starts tonight? Amount of shots vs Hellebuyck last night.
2) Lineup decisions (:40)
3) Lightning/Blackhawks games last night (1:24)
4) Bolts coming through a rough patch (1:41)
5) Why was it important to go with Hellebuyck in back-to-back? (2:07)
6) Any update on Pierre-Luc Dubois? (2:34)
7) Chemistry between Ehlers and Namestnikov (2:50)
8) Seeing the game he expects from Ehlers (3:18)
9) What are chances Morrissey can play on Tuesday? (3:51)

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6:00 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).