The good news for the Jets is that they cannot “ease up” after clinching a playoff spot with a thrilling OT win over the Capitals on Tuesday night. Why you ask? It is because Dallas won their fourth straight game last night to get within four points of Winnipeg for top spot in the Central. It is why this team cannot take any opponents lightly or afford to lose any points for their standings bank with just ten games left on the schedule. Now that’s probably a good thing to ensure this team is running smoothly as the playoffs arrive.
Their opponent tonight won their last game in Chicago as the Devils defeated the Hawks 5-3. While New Jersey has slipped with injuries to key players like Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton the good news for David Puddy’s (of Seinfeld fame) team is that the Metropolitan falls off big time after them with the Islanders sitting nine points back of them (with two games in hand).
The special teams edge goes to the visitors as they have the 4th best PP in the NHL and the 6th best PK as compared to the home team’s 2nd best PP in the NHL and 14th best PK.
Skate news:
The Gus Bus draws back in for Rasmus Kupari. Two days in a row he isn’t skating with the group. David Gustafsson will be on the wing with Morgan Barron at centre. Other than that it remains the same.
Jets projected lines & D pairs:
Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Ehlers-Lowry-Appleton
Niederreiter-Namestnikov-Perfetti
Gustafsson-Barron-Tanev
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Schenn
Stanley-Miller
Hellebuyck
Devils projected lines & D pairs:
Palat – Hischier – Meier
Haula – Mercer – Bratt
Cotter – Dowling – Noesen
Tatar – Lazar – Bastian
Hughes -Pesce
Dumoulin – Kovacevic
Dillon – Nemec
Allen
Markstrom
This was how NJ lined up this morning as per team reported Amanda Stein.
Players media availability:
Coach media availability:
Topics:
1) Might the Devils still be sore from the loss in NJ?
2) Five of top 13 teams from the Central (:41)
3) What made him think of Vlad Namestnikov as so versatile? (1:50)
4) Did he seem him as a perfect systematic fit? (3:00)
5) Cole Perfetti on the cycle weaponizing his playmaking (3:23)
6) Getting David Gustafsson back in on the wing (4:27)
Health news:
Head coach Scott Arniel indicated that Rasmus Kupari has had a “little bit of a setback” so they are going to monitor him. He was listed as day-to-day. He didn’t go into specifics as to what the setback was from but his most recent injury was a concussion suffered in the game against the Islanders in early March.
Up Next:
Puck drop is at 7 PM CST. 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 9:40PM CDT as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.
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