Game 75: Winnipeg Jets vs Los Angeles Kings pre-game report

Every time the Jets think they can pause and breath the Stars remind them that until they see that clinched top spot in the Central beside their name there is no letting up. With Dallas winning last night they are once again just four points back of Winnipeg with both teams having eight games remaining. The NHL club from Manitoba has a tougher strength of schedule then do their competitors from Texas with the game between the two on April 10th potentially having major consequences.

Of course if the Jets can take care of business this week on the road they will do themselves a big favour but it won’t be easy. They lost both games to the Kings this season although one of those defeats did come in overtime. Like Winnipeg the Kings are a very good home team boasting a 27-4-4 record this season. They are 7-3-0 in their last ten as they look to maintain 2nd place in the Pacific in order to hold onto home ice advantage over the Oilers in what is seen as their inevitable fourth straight first round playoff meeting.

One area of disparity between these two clubs is goal scoring where the Jets sit 3rd most goals scored in the entire NHL while the Kings are 20th. Where they are similar is in keeping the puck out of their respective nets with Winnipeg sitting as the best team with 173 against while the Kings are in 2nd spot with 186.

When it comes to special teams: Jets PP is 2nd overall, Kings are 28th. Jets PK is 14th overall, Kings are 8th.

Lineup news:

Reminder that the team recalled goalie Chris Driedger and forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan as Eric Comrie’s status is uncertain with him expecting a child while former King Rasmus Kupari is back in Winnipeg as he is back in protocol. Over on the Kings side of things former Moose/Jets forward Jeff Malott who the organization signed out of college following his 2019-20 season at Cornell and where he spent four seasons (primarily in the AHL although he did make his NHL debut with the Jets back in 2021-22). He has played three games with Los Angeles including this big tilt since he was recalled six days ago.

Skate news:

No changes as per Jets radio colour analyst Mitchell Clinton who indicates that Eric Comrie is on the ice with his teammates so he didn’t stay behind in Winnipeg. Also some big news is that defenceman Neal Pionk hit the ice for a skate with his teammates. He’s been out of the lineup since March 11th with a lower-body injury which was labelled week-to-week.

Mitch did add that Luke Schenn left the ice a bit early so worth monitoring.

Warm-up skate:

Mitch provides the update that Luke Schenn not taking part in warm-up but Haydn Fleury is.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Ehlers-Lowry-Appleton
Niederreiter-Namestnikov-Perfetti
Gustafsson-Barron-Tanev

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Miller
Fleury-Stanley

Hellebuyck
Comrie

Kings projected lines & D pairs:

Kuzmenko – Kopitar – Kempe
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Fiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Malott- Helenius – Lewis

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Spence
Edmundson – Clarke

Kuemper
Rittich

Coach’s comments:

After skate he told the assembled media that Luke Schenn “stiffened up” and called it game-time. Added “like me every morning”.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 9:30 PM CDT. 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 12:10 AM CDT as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.