Game 69: Jets vs. Sharks pre-game report

The Jets begin a really tough three-game homestand against a San Jose team that is 7-2-1 (five straight wins) in their last ten games including a 3-0 win over the Wild last night in St. Paul.  Winnipeg has been very good this season against the Pacific Division going 12-4-2 to date.

Morning Skate:

As per Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun goalie Connor Hellebuyck is taking the shots which usually indicates he is getting the start in net.  He also said that “Par Lindholm, Matt Hendricks, Bogdan Kiselevich and Joe Morrow stayed on for extra work with Laurent Brossoit, so no lineup changes expected for the Jets”.

Jets projected lineup:

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

Beaulieu – Trouba
Kulikov – Myers
Chiarot – Niku

Helllebuyck
Brossoit

Audio:

Tyler Myers

Mark Scheifele

Coach Maurice:  Any update on Dustin Byfuglien?  What are the biggest challenges the Sharks present?  Specific challenges of Brent Burns?  Are the expectations higher or are they still trying to find a way to be as good as they were at this time last year?  Is it fair to look at this week as a measuring stick or do the injuries offset that?  How can this set of three games help this team?  Is Byfuglien skating at all?  What did they do well defensively in Washington?  Any update on Vesalainen?

Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.

Health News:

Coach Maurice was asked about whether he had any update on Dustin Byfuglien who returned to Winnipeg during last week’s road trip “No.  Nothing’s changed. We’re still waiting for it to get to a level that he can push hard on the ice.” Asked if Byfuglien was skating he added “He has but there’s not enough value to it right now. He can’t push real hard on the ice. We’re just waiting. So he’s going heavier in the weight room and doing those kind of things. He’s skating around like a coach right now. I’m not a very good skater. I didn’t get better from today, didn’t make me faster, so we’re going to wait until he can push.”

Return of Kristian Vesalainen:

Jets 2017 1st rounder Kristian Vesalainen season in the KHL came to an end last week.  On Monday Finnish journalist Pekka Jalonen indicated that Vesalainen would be returning to North America to play for the Jets/Moose.  Coach Maurice didn’t have anything to add to the conversation when asked about it at the end of today’s availability. “I have nothing on that. I don’t know.”

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 7:00 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.