Game 82: Winnipeg Jets vs San Jose Sharks pre-game report

The Jets and Sharks are both on the outside looking in which makes this game more about saying goodbye to NHL hockey for these respective markets for the next five months as this is the last time you’ll see these guys playing games for Winnipeg or San Jose for the next five months.

For the home team the only question was if they’d use any of the three recalls they had left to give a player like Tyrel Bauer or Colby Barlow or Domenic DiVincentiis their first NHL game. Bauer has been dealing with an injury which could have cost him his chance, Barlow played last night for the Moose in Chicago and DiVincentiis backed up in goal. So it seems unlikely although not impossible we see another NHL debut this evening.

Skate news:

A few lineup tweaks but same players  Connor Hellebuyck in net.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Perfetti-Lowry-Niederreiter
Rosén-Toews-Lambert
Koepke-Yager-Chibrikov

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Miller
Fleury-Heinola

Hellebuyck

Sharks projected lines & D pairs:

Chernyshov-Celebrini-Smith
Eklund-Wennberg-Sherwood
Graf-Misa-Toffoli
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Gaudette

Mukhamadullin-Orlov
Dickinson-Ferraro
Cagnoni-Desharnais

Askarov

Players media availability:

To follow.

Coach media availability:

To follow.

Odds:

With both the Jets and Sharks out of the playoff race, this one is about pride more than anything. Winnipeg appears to have a slight edge on paper, but games like this can quickly stray from expectations.  For the latest Winnipeg Jets hockey odds, visit NHL betting site Betway.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 7 PM CT. 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 9:40 PM CT as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.