Winnipeg Jets Practice Report

The Jets have won the first couple of games on this three game homestand after last night’s 3-2 SO win over the Flyers.  They are preparing for a Saturday afternoon contest where they will face a Devils team currently tied for 1st place in the Metropolitan Division.  Big news prior to skate was that Radko Gudas had been offered an in-person hearing for his slash to the head of Mathieu Perreault.

Practice notes:

Via NHL correspondent Scott Billeck we learn that Dustin Byfuglien, Tobias Enstrom, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler are not skating today.

Goalie note:

Coach Maurice confirms that Connor Hellebuyck is back in net for the Jets.  Will be his third straight start for the Jets.  The Jets netminder is sporting a 10-1-2 record with a 2.29 GAA and a .930 save %.  His GSAA is 8.59.

Lineup:

The Jets bench boss also confirmed that he will use same lineup against the Devils as he used against the Flyers.

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Little-Laine
Copp-Lowry-Tanev
Perreault-Hendricks-Armia

Morrissey-Trouba
Enstrom-Byfuglien
Kulikov-Myers

Hellebuyck
Mason

Extras:  Matthias, Dano and Chiarot.

Audio:

Coach Maurice: Challenges facing the New Jersey Devils.  Warding off complacency.  What is the 3rd line doing so well?  Lineup changes?  Hellebuyck starts?  Do they still post the standings?  Sitting higher in the standings rather than chasing and removing the stress.  The internal lineup competition helping keep complacency from settling in.  On the little things that Bryan Little does well.  Did he see a difference from his team last night in how the Jets reacted from years past in recovering from the two goal deficit?  On elite teams winning games like that.  Todd Woodcroft’s helping the young guns with faceoffs.

Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.

Notable:

With it being a 2 pm between the Jets and Devils the Illegal Curve Hockey Show on TSN 1290 Winnipeg will begin at 8 am instead of our usual 9 am.