Winnipeg Jets Playoff Practice Report

The Jets didn’t skate on Tuesday opting instead to hold a media availability at the airport and giving their players a day off the ice with a few days between games 4 and 5.

Of course the biggest question marks surround the health of Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers and to a lesser degree backup goalie David Rittich.

Skate news:

According to John Lu of TSN three goalies on the ice but no David Rittich.

As per Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet we learn no Mark Scheifele or Pierre-Luc Dubois (or Kevin Stenlund) but that Nikolaj Ehlers is skating in a normal jersey.

During practice Wieber indicated that Dubois was watching from the bench and that Mason Appleton left skate early. He also provided the lines and D pairs below.

Lines and D pairs:

Connor-Gustafsson-Wheeler
Ehlers-Namestnikov-Niederreiter
Barron-Lowry-Appleton
Jonsson Fjallby-Maenalanen-Kuhlman

(No Stenlund either)

Dillon-Pionk
Schmidt-DeMelo
Stanley-Samberg
Capobianco-Perfetti (non-contact)

Hellebucyk
Holm
Salminen

Health news:

Wieber also added that Mark Scheifele is officially out for game 5 according to Rick Bowness. Tough news for Winnipeg. On a positive note he did indicate that Nikolaj Ehelers is considered a game-time decision.

The two players who didn’t skate (Pierre-Luc Dubois  Kevin Stenlund) and Mason Appleton (left early) are “dealing with some nagging stuff. So they got the day off. Certaintly not ruling them out for tomorrow.” as per Bowness.

With respect to goalie David Rittich he said “the plan is for him to skate tomorrow and we’ll see how it feels. So if he can get through practice tomorrow then he’ll be the backup but if it’s bothering him, then he won’t.”.

Players interview:

Coach’s media availability:

Topics:

1) Updates on Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kevin Stenlund and Mason Appleton?
2) Update on Mark Scheifele? (:21)
3) Update on Nikolaj Ehlers? (:25)
4) Is this the best Ehlers has looked since series started? (:42)
5) Adding PP duties to Ehlers a sign he is ramping up? (1:12)
6) How difficulty is it to integrate Ehlers into game 5? (1:37)
7) What test results have they received on 55 that had them reach this conclusion? (2:04)
8) Does Connor Hellebuyck need to be better? (2:26)
9) Is there more pressure on Kyle Connor to score/more attention he’s getting (3:13)
10) What can Kyle Connor do when he isn’t scoring to have positive impact? (4:07)
11) What is Vegas doing so well to get behind guys? (4:52)
12) Changing flow of bounces (5:58)
13) With no 55 who will centre his line? (6:39)
14) Status of David Rittich? (6:49)
15) Is there any value to big picture? (7:16)
16) Using potential “last chance for this group” as motivation? (7:56)

Up next:

The Jets head into a must-win game 5 tomorrow night in Vegas. Kick start your morning with all the latest news via illegalcurve.com, stick with us throughout the day for now and then join us after the game on the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show.