Winnipeg vs Chicago pre-game

The Jets will kick off the first of eight straight games at home this evening when they welcome the Hawks to Winnipeg. The local NHL club are coming off a road trip out west which saw them go 1-0-2 but they are not in a position to be losing points if their (very) slim playoff hopes are to be achieved. We learned on Monday that they are targeting a weekend return for Josh Morrissey although even playing on Thursday wasn't ruled out. Since it was a highly optional practice we will have to wait for morning skate to see what the lines will be this evening. Meanwhile the Blackhawks are 2-6-2 in their last ten although they are coming off a 4-0 win over the Mammoth. They are still in rebuild mode which is evidenced by yesterday's trade of defenceman Connor Murphy to the Oilers. Skate news: No changes from the lineup from last game as per Connor Hrabchak of WST who also reports that, as expected, Josh Morrissey is skating in a yellow, non-contact jersey. Jets projected lines & D pairs: Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi Perfetti-Lowry-Iafallo Nyquist-Toews-Duehr Koepke-Barron-Pearson Stanley-DeMelo Samberg-Salomonsson Fleury-Schenn Hellebuyck Blackhawks projected lines & D pairs: Greene- Bedard - Burakovsky Donato -Nazar -Teravainen Bertuzzi - Dickinson - Mikheyev Foligno -Moore - Slaggert Vlasic - Crevier Grzelcyk – Levshunov Korchinski - Rinzel Knight As per Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. Coach media availability: ? Topics: 1) Assessing the Hawks: 2) 6 of 8 vs Conference opponents (:56) 3) Mental focus on playing catch up (1:48) 4) Challenge of the 3rd periods (2:37) 5) Is team thinking about defending leads vs attack? (4:02) 6) Update on Colin Miller? (4:52) 7) Latest on Vlad Namestnikov (5:16) 8) Might they recall a forward? (5:26) 9) Reaching out to Jim Hiller (5:49) Odds: The Jets return home to start a long homestand where they’ve been steady above .500, while the Blackhawks continue to search for consistency on the road. Winnipeg may deserve the slight edge on paper, but with both clubs sitting below the playoff line, urgency alone could make this tighter than expected. For the latest Winnipeg Jets hockey odds, visit NHL betting site Betway. 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 9:40 PM CST as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.

Game 60: Winnipeg Jets vs Chicago Blackhawks pre-game report

Game 48: Winnipeg Jets vs Chicago Blackhawks pre-game report