Winnipeg Jets Practice Report

The Jets are coming off a 1-0 shootout win over the Oilers which ended their three game losing streak and put them at .500 on the season at 5-5-0 after 10 games.  They hit the ice to prepare for a Kings team that sits last in the Pacific although they are coming off a 4-1 win over the Flames on Saturday.

Skate news:

Anthony Bitetto who is/was on IR is on the ice in a regular uniform according to Mitchell Clinton of Jets TV. As per Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun no changes to the lines or D pairs from last night’s win.

Line Rushes and D Pairs:

Laine-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Little-Ehlers
Copp-Lowry-Roslovic
Perreault-Gustafsson-Bourque

Morrissey-Poolman
Heinola-Pionk
Dahlstrom-Kulikov

Extras:  Bitetto & Appleton.

Power Play Units:

Neal Pionk and Josh Morrissey have switched spots according to Ken Wiebe of The Athletic Winnipeg with Pionk joining the PP1 unit and Morrissey on the PP2 unit.

Audio:

Neal Pionk

Patrik Laine

Coach Maurice: On the feeling today after the way the last few games had gone.  Status of Bitetto?  What does he know about Carl Dahlstrom now that he didn’t know three weeks ago?  Any concern with a guy that big not being able to move?  Maybe it is more than a stop gap?  On Pionk being added to the first power play unit.  On team defence being about awareness.  On Heinola getting beat physically but not mentally and then using his skill to get back into the play.  How difficult is Heinola making his life with respect to the 10 game threshold?  Who is the coach who influenced him the most before he won his first game?  Since he’s become an NHL coach who is the coach who has influenced him the most?  How has he managed to balance of sticking with core beliefs but adapting.  His experience in the KHL and what it meant for his evolution.

All audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.

Health Update:

When asked about Anthony Bitetto Jets bench boss Paul Maurice indicated “So he skated and he was full contact skate.  That’ll be more we’ll see how he’s feeling tomorrow.”.

Up Next:

The Jets will face the Kings tomorrow night at Bell MTS Place at 7 pm which will be the fifth game of this six-game “homestand” (The sixth game is the Heritage Classic next Saturday in Regina which counts as a home game for Winnipeg).  Be sure to keep it locked to illegalcurve.com for the AM Papers which go live at 7 AM followed by our pre-game report at 10:00 AM.