With the Jets Gala taking place at Bell MTS Place tonight the team was on the ice over at the IcePlex following a tough loss last night to the Blue Jackets. Scott Billeck of NHL.com indicated that Dmity Kulikov skated prior to the start of Jets practice. He also said that Dustin Byfuglien wasn’t on the ice for today’s skate.
Some other practice notes via Scott:
– Kyle Connor is skating on the top line;
– Brendan Lemieux is the extra forward;
– Joel Armia is on the 3rd line, Shawn Matthias moves to the 4th line;
– Matt Hendricks in a non-contact uniform.
Goalie news:
Coach Maurice indicated that Connor Hellebuyck would start on Friday against the Wild.
Health Report:
Dustin Byfguglien was missing for today’s skate and coach Maurice indicated that his maintenance today was from something he “picked up in the game last night”. On Matt Hendricks the Jets coach said “he’s close. I don’t think I’ve got him for Minny but he’ll get rid of that ugly (non-contact) sweater pretty soon.”
Line Rushes & D Pairs (Via Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun):
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Little-Laine
Tanev-Copp-Armia
Matthias-Petan-Dano
Morrissey-Trouba
Enstrom-Chiarot (Byfuglien)
Poolman-Myers
Audio:
Bryan Little
Ben Chiarot
Steve Mason
Coach Maurice: Reflections on Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie. Putting the Columbus game behind them. On the play of Steve Mason. Which goalie plays on Friday? Trends in their 2nd periods? How do they practice speed? When does “effort” play into things? Does he anticipate any line changes for Friday’s game? Health updates. Maintaining structure when the team is behind. On the way the players have played in front of Mason. Do players relax when playing in front of certain goalies and get away from the system? On the team relying on Mason too much.
All audio is courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.
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