Winnipeg Jets Practice Report

The Jets kicked off their homestand with an absolutely critical 3-1 win over the Sabres on Tuesday night. As you would expect at this point in the season the health updates happen on an almost daily basis and on Tuesday following morning skate coach Paul Maurice provided updates on Mathieu Perreault, Adam Lowry and Mark Letestu which you can read about here.  They gave the team the day off on Wednesday so it will be interesting to see if there has been any progress among the skating wounded.

Skate news:

Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun indicated that Adam Lowry, Mathieu Perreault, Logan Shaw and Mark Letestu are all wearing light blue (as extra forwards).  Which does mean that Adam Lowry is out of the non-contact jersey and getting closer to a return.  He adds that Bryan Little is watching practice as a spectator on the bench.  As per Jamie Thomas of Jets TV here is a look at the Jets lines and D pairs.

Lines & D Pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Eakin-Laine
Harkins-Copp-Roslovic
Bourque-Shore-Appleton

Extras: Letestu, Shaw, Lowry and Perreault.

Morrissey-DeMelo
Kulikov-Pionk
Beaulieu-Poolman
Bitetto-Dahlstrom

Audio:

Adam Lowry on his road to recovery (says he won’t be ready to return for Vegas), on the difficulty on sitting out at this time of year, did he know right away that it was a serious injury and how he approached today’s practice.

Mark Scheifele on Kyle Connor’s progression, on he and Connor understanding each other, what is better about Kyle Connor this season, whether he could tell early on in Connor’s career that he was going to develop like this?

Kyle Connor on his ability to compartmentalize (losses, goal droughts, etc), his mental strength as a hockey player, game vs Hurricanes in 2018 as his ‘ah ha’ moment and whether it was for him, tone set by Wheeler/Scheifele, what does he take most pride in about his game, does it come from experience and what makes him a better player at this point compared to this time last year?

Coach Maurice:  Provides an update on Adam Lowry and Mathieu Perreault.  The bonus of time between games.  A look ahead to Vegas.  What has he seen different in the Golden Knights since the coaching change?  Is Perreault an option for tomorrow?  The life of a backup goalie.  What he saw in the game against Carolina in 2018 that was his Kyle Connor ‘ah ha’ moment?  The conversation they had after that game.  Did the compacted schedule in December, January and February impact the way they were playing in the 1st periods?  Giving the players the day off and the event they had.  His opinion on the offside rule changing in the NHL.  His desire to see high-stick goals count.  What about kicking it in?

Health Update:

Usually it is the coach who provides the update but Adam Lowry advised that he isn’t ready to return to the Jets lineup in tomorrow night’s game.  Coach Maurice said that Mathieu Perreault is an option against Vegas depending on how his check up goes with the doctor this afternoon.

All audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg

Up Next:

The Jets will take on the Golden Knights tomorrow at 7 PM CST.  Be sure to keep it locked to illegalcurve.com for the AM Papers which go live at 7 AM CST.