Game 67: Winnipeg Jets vs Nashville Predators pre-game report

The Jets took Monday off after two big wins over a pair of Central Division opponents in the Avs and Blues. They will look to make it three straight when they welcome the Predators to town to close out eight at home. Winnipeg woke up this morning five points back of the final wild card spot which means they have no margin for error with just 16 games remaining. That’s especially true given their Nashville opponent are actually one point ahead of them in the standings.

The visitors score more often than the home team (seven more goals) but they also give up way more into the back of their net (23 more goals allowed) which could be a big factor in tonight’s game.

The Jets continue to run just 12 forwards and seven defenceman and it appears that Ville Heinola remains on the outside looking in given he was not tossed into the game in a back-t0-back situation. For now the only expected change is Connor Hellebuyck getting the net back from Eric “white cage” Comrie who has won five straight games since switching his facemask to a white one.

The Preds are on a bit of an unusual five-game road trip which will conclude tonight. It began in Buffalo before they flew west to play in Seattle and then headed north to Vancouver and then making their way east to Edmonton and ultimately to Winnipeg. They’ve gone 1-2-1 to date which contributes to a poor road record of 12-15-6. They are even-steven when it comes to PP and PK as they rank 11th overall in both categories.

Skate news:

No changes to the lineup. We did see Neal Pionk in a non-contact uniform out with his teammates for the first time.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Perfetti-Lowry-Vilardi
Nyquist-Toews-Rosén
Koepke-Barron-Lambert

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Salomonsson
Fleury-Bryson

Hellebuyck

Predators projected lines & D pairs:

Stamkos – O’Reilly – Evangelista
Forsberg – Wood – Marchessault
Jost -Haula – L’Heureux
Schaefer -Svechkov -Wiesblatt

Skjei -Josi
Hague – Perbix
Barron – Ufko

Saros

Players media availability:

Coach media availability:

Topics:
1) The weekend wins saving the homestand.
2) Importance of scoring first (:52)
3) Olympic break practices (1:57)
4) Did he have a goal for the break? (3:04)
5) Jets overall defensive game (4:42)
6) Return of Neal Pionk to practice (5:36)
7) Other health updates (5:55)
8) Breakout changes when they pack the house (6:22)
9) Challenge for smaller wingers along the boards (8:14)
10) Getting the PP going (9:33)

Health updates:

Jets coach Scott Arniel said Neal Pionk is close to return, will join road trip where he will get into contact. He also provided injury updates on Colin Miller, Vlad Namestnikov and Nino Niederreiter which you can read about here.

Odds:
With only a single point separating the clubs in the standings, it’s a tight matchup on paper, though the home side enters with a slight edge which makes sense given their two straight wins and the visitors having hit a bit of a slide of late. For the latest Winnipeg Jets hockey odds, visit NHL betting site Betway.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 7 PM CT. 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 9:40 PM CT as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.