Game 74: Winnipeg Jets vs Ottawa Senators pre-game report

The Jets held a quick practice on Friday where the big news was Gabriel Vilardi would be returning to the lineup after missing the last 15 games. The only player missing yesterday was Josh Morrissey but it was declared maintenance for him after he played almost 30 minutes on Thursday night.

The good news, especially for the power play, comes at a critical time for Winnipeg as they’ve hit a five-game winless streak (0-4-1). The home team is in need of two points this evening as they have fallen well behind Dallas (7 points) and Colorado (4 points) although they have one game in hand on the Stars with Nashville coming from behind just four points back.

While the Senators have had a disappointing season they have gone on a four-game winning streak and are 7-3-0 in their last ten games.

Morning Skate:

It was an optional and just the healthy scratches skated.

Starting goalie:

Jets head coach Rick Bowness confirms that Connor Hellebuyck starts in net for his 500th NHL game.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Toffoli-Monahan-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Namestnikov-Iafallo

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6 PM CDT.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. Reminder to join us on the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show following the final buzzer between the Jets and Senators.