Winnipeg Jets Playoff Practice Report

With the Jets off Saturday all eyes were on the IcePlex today as the team practices while awaiting word of who their 2nd round opponent will be with Nashville and Colorado playing game 6 tonight in Denver.  The good news for the Jets is that waiting also means resting as in getting players a chance to heal up a bit before they get back into battle mode.  Aside from the numerous players likely dealing with minor injuries the team is waiting to see the status of Tobias Enstrom, Joel Armia, Mathieu Perreault, Steve Mason and Dmitry Kulikov.  We could add Nikolaj Ehlers to that group as he missed the last game but coach Maurice seemed to indicate that Ehlers just wasn’t feeling right, which the Jets bench boss described as a “malaise”.  He also indicated that had it been closer in the series (2-2 or 3-2) he maybe wouldn’t have kept the Dynamic Dane out of the lineup.

Practice notes:

According to Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun a couple of the Jets listed above are wearing yellow non-contact uniforms including Tobias Enstrom and Nikolaj Ehlers.  Via Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press missing from skate are Armia, Perreault, Kulikov, Mason.

Via Brian Munz of TSN 1290 Winnipeg the lines and D pairs skating at IcePlex are listed below.

Projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Stastny-Laine
Tanev-Lowry-Copp
Roslovic-Little-Hendricks

Extra forwards: Matthias, Dano

Morrissey-Trouba
Morrow-Byfuglien
Chiarot-Myers
Enstrom-Poolman

Audio:

Blake Wheeler

Nikolaj Ehlers

Bryan Little

Josh Morrissey

Mark Scheifele

Connor Hellebuyck

Coach Maurice:  Where is Ehlers in the malaise spectrum?  Will he watch the Preds/Avs game tnt and what will he be working for?  Is it an extra credit assignment for his players to watch tonight?  What is it like to get ready for a practice day today when they don’t know their opponent?  On Laine leaving practice early.  On having Enstrom join practice.  Is Kulikov skating on his own?  Did he get a sense when he first joined the team of the future success?  Other teams missing opportunity to close out series at home.  What is the value of closing out a team in five?  Importance of good goalie depth.   Playing fast/team speed and why it is importance for success.  What did he see from Hellebuyck rebounding from game 3 to post shutouts in games 4 & 5?  Trust between the goalie and his D.  Does he feel like he has a true home ice advantage at Bell MTS Place?  Confidence in his team’s ability to bounce back.  Will an aggressive high speed forecheck likely to work against fast teams?

Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.