Winnipeg Jets Afternoon Links

Note: After the Jets game, be sure to check us out for all the post-game reaction. As soon as illegalcurve.com is updated we notify you via Twitter | Facebook | Instagram.

Jets news:

Winnipeg Free Press:  Maurice sticking with same Jets lineup tonight in Calgary.  (Paywall).  If it ain’t broke then don’t fix it seems to be the mantra of the Jets bench boss.

Sportsnet:  31 Thoughts.  Thought 29 mentions that the Jets could, I stress could, potentially be a participant in an outdoor game next season in Regina, Saskatchewan.  A game there hasn’t been announced but according to Friedman the NHL has checked it out.

Sportsnet: Kyle Connor emerging as an important line driver for Winnipeg. As someone who has watched him from his college days at the University of Michigan and then with the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League I wasn’t surprised to see his elite offensive game continue into the NHL but I can admit that I didn’t think he would take his game to this level this quickly.

The Athletic Winnipeg: Digging into Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele’s strong — and perhaps surprising — penalty-killing data. (Paywall). Murat looks at two players you’d think you would be reading about in a power play breakdown but he looks at how they have done when down a man.

Illegal Curve: Jets vs. Flames pre-game report. The Jets held an AM skate today in Calgary as they got ready to face the Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome tonight at 9 pm. Includes projected lines, D pairs and starting goalie as well as audio from Josh Morrissey and Blake Wheeler.

Illegal Curve: Morning Papers. If you missed any of the news from earlier today we have you covered.

Jets video:

TSN: Wheeler is an underrated player and I don’t know why.  The Flames welcome the Jets to town Wednesday and are preparing for Winnipeg’s high-powered offence to come out firing. Calgary head coach Bill Peters was complimentary of the Jets’ scorers, especially Patrik Laine and Blake Wheeler, and knows it’s going to take a complete effort to slow them down.

TSN:  Playing with Connor, Laine feels his 5-on-5 play has turned a corner.  Scoring goals on the power play hasn’t been an issue for Patrik Laine this season, but his five-on-five production was severely lacking. At least it was before he was shifted to a line with Kyle Connor and Bryan Little and went off for his sixth career hat trick Tuesday. Laine feels he has turned a corner and hopes to continue that success tonight against the Flames.

TSN: Can Rittich slow down Jets?  Both the Flames and Jets are coming off offensive outbursts in their previous games, as Calgary scored seven on the Golden Knights, and Winnipeg piled up six goals against the Canucks. As Jermain Franklin explains, it could come down to the battle between the pipes and whose power play is better.

Jets audio:

Illegal Curve: Coach Maurice pre-game. Topics included – What does he see the potential of the 2nd line is?  Trust in the 4th line.  Putting Roslovic back on the wing.  Was there a conversation with Roslovic when he was a healthy scratch?  How would he assess the play of his 3rd pairing?  Has he seen Joe Morrow get more into a rhythm?  Does he expect to get into Niku into a game this weekend?  Goalie plan for the back to back this weekend?