Game 71: Jets vs Red Wings pre-game report

The Jets have entered must-win territory as the teams ahead of them in the standings continue to add points and distance in the playoff chase with both Nashville and Dallas winning on Tuesday night which means they sit eight and seven points up on Winnipeg respectively and both hold one game in hand.

They take on a Red Wings squad who beat the Bruins last night in Detroit 5-3 but had lost their previous six games prior to the win.

Skate news:

As per Kelly Moore of CJOB 680 it is an optional morning skate for the Jets so lines and D pairs are based on yesterday’s practice.

Lineup news:

With Kyle Connor and Nate Schmidt returning to the lineup as per interim head coach Dave Lowry the changes are Ville Heinola comes out and Jansen Harkins remains out after he took an elbow in the 1st period of the last game.

Warm up news:

Jets flip Schmidt and Dillon for the game.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Dubois-Wheeler
Stastny-Scheifele-Ehlers
Sanford-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Toninato-Svechnikov

Morrissey-DeMelo
Schmidt-Pionk
Stanley-Dillon

Hellebuyck
Comrie

Betway Odds:

The Wings defeated the Bruins last night after giving up 50 shots and tonight they’ll face a rested Jets team that needs two points to keep pace in the chase for the last spot in the wild card. Be sure to check out the latest game day odds from Betway.

Player media availability:

Coach media availability:

Topics:

1) Red Wings as a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde type of team.
2) Preparing for Detroit.
3) Differences for the Wings when they don’t have Bertuzzi in the lineup.
4) Lineup changes for the game?
5) What can special teams do to lighten the burden down the stretch?
6) Confidence for players in the power play.
7) Why can special teams be so fickle sometimes?
8) What goes into a good PK?
9) Would he like to see more movement on the power play?
10) Offensive evolution in Josh Morrissey’s game.
11) Impressive to see what 44 is doing while not sacrificing defence.
12) Four year anniversary of the Humboldt Broncos tragedy.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6:30 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 interim head coach Dave Lowry.

You can also join us afterwards for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show. (be sure to smash that like/subscribe button).