The Jets ended their four-game slide in Buffalo last night although they required overtime to get back in the win column as they defeated the Sabres 3-2. Now they turn their focus to the Blackhawks in Chicago which is where they will wrap up their 11th road game in the last 13 contests tomorrow afternoon.
They face a Chicago team that fired head coach Luke Richardson on Thursday and promoted AHL head coach of Rockford Anders Sorensen as the interim for the remainder of the season. The Hawks are sitting 8th in the Central with an 8-16-2 record.
Skate news:
As per Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press no changes today at skate. He’s got the lines and D pairs the same as they were last night.
Lines and D pairs:
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Namestnikov-Lambert-Perfetti
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-Iafallo
Gustafsson
Morrissey-Pionk
Fleury-DeMelo
Stanley-Heinola
Coghlan-Miller
Hellebuyck
Comrie
3rd pairing question:
Folks have been wondering why the Jets are running the Heinola and Stanley pairing. Today after practice Ken asked assistant coach Dean Chynoweth about having healthy D and giving guys runway.
On last night’s IC Hockey Show I speculated that the Jets wanted to see what they had in Heinola and Stanley and were likely giving them some leash when they could afford to because of where they are in the standings to try to ascertain what they’ve got in these two.
“…we have guys that were put in circumstances at training camp out of their control with injuries so giving them a little bit of a runway, see what we got with them, be able to work with them and see where it goes…”
Assistant coach Dean Chynoweth today.
Me on IC last night: pic.twitter.com/yFOtvgaadu
— Dave Minuk (@ICdave) December 6, 2024
Here was part of his response to Ken which would seem to confirm my speculation from last night:
“…we have guys that were put in circumstances at training camp out of their control with injuries so giving them a little bit of a runway, see what we got with them, be able to work with them and see where it goes…”
Up next:
The Jets will take on the Blackhawks tomorrow at 3 PM CST. You can start your day with all the latest Jets and Moose news in the AM Papers on illegalcurve.com which are available starting at 7 AM CST, join us for the Illegal Curve Hockey Show at 9 AM CST, stick with us throughout the day for updates and then join us on the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show after the final buzzer.
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