Game 80: Winnipeg Jets vs Chicago Blackhawks pre-game report

The Jets stayed off the ice on Friday in Chicago ahead of tonight’s game against the Blackhawks. While the game this evening against a non-playoff opponent might seem like one that is prime for a letdown there is still something that should galvanize Winnipeg. With a win (or even a loss in OT or a shootout) they will secure their first ever Central Division title (as well as the Western Conference title). There has really been a lot of talk this season of controlling your own destiny so we shall see if they can accomplish this in the Windy City.

The only real lineup question mark for the visitors might be whether they give goalie Connor Hellebuyck a night off and toss Eric Comrie in net after his excellent 26-save shutout win over the Golden Knights in Vegas nine days ago. Hellebuyck already set his personal best/franchise best win with number 45 last game and at best he could tie Martin Brodeur/Brayden Holtby with most wins by a goalie with 48. But the NHL got rid of ties a long time ago and while it would be a cool accomplishment to be able to match those two, the fact is the organization would probably prioritize rest, rather than an individual award ahead of the playoffs.

Chicago is looking to avoid the series sweep this evening at the United Center. While they have the second worst record in the entire Western Conference they haven’t been terrilble at home (15-20-5) when you compare it to their road record (8-26-5).

Skate news:

No morning skate which is a bit out of the ordinary since they didn’t skate yesterday. Perhaps they are trying to preserve their legs for the final week before the playoffs.

Warm-up news:

As per Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press it will be Connor Hellebuyck in the crease.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

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

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Schenn

Hellebuyck

Blackhawks projected lines & D pairs:

Moore-Bedard-Mikheyev
Teravainen-Nazar-Bertuzzi
Donato-Foligno-Kurashev
Slaggert-Veleno-Maroon

Vlasic-Rinzel
Martinez-Murphy
Kaiser-Levshunov

Knight

Via Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Coach’s comments:

To follow.

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. You can join us on our YouTube channel for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show around 8:40 PM CDT as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.