Winnipeg Jets Practice Report

Since it’s still technically the last day of the regular season this will be a regular Jets Practice Report which as of tomorrow will be a Playoff Practice Report. Today, the Jets will put the 82 games of the NHL regular season behind them after they ended it with a 2-1 OT victory over the Ducks last night in Winnipeg.

The focus now will be their first round opponent in the Blues. St. Louis was the hottest team coming out of the 4 Nations break going from outside the playoff picture to the second wildcard spot which included an impressive 12-game win streak which came to an end against the Jets 10 days ago.

We know that Gabriel Vilardi has been on the ice in consecutive days and the big question mark is whether he joins his teammates for a skate or if he continues to skate on his own.

Extension news:

Jets announced they had signed Neal Pionk to a six-year contract extension.

First round schedule:

Game 1: Sat., April 19, 5:00pm
Game 2: Mon., April 21, 6:30pm
Game 3: Thu., April 24, 8:30pm
Game 4: Sun., April 27, 12:00pm
Game 5*: Wed., April 30, TBD
Game 6*: Fri., May 2, TBD
Game 7*: Sun., May 4, TBD

*if necessary

Skate news:

Everyone present and accounted for except Connor Hellebuyck, Ville Heinola and Dominic Toninato.

No Gabriel Vilardi either but head coach Scott Arniel indicated he skated again today. Not present were also Nikolaj Ehlers or Rasmus Kupari but neither player was expected to be.

Player media:

Coach media:

Topics:
1) Thoughts on recently seeing the Blues
2) Making adjustments vs sticking with game plan (:54)
3) What makes Neal Pionk so valuable to the team? (1:45)
4) What’s he like about Pionk’s on ice game? (2:34)
5) Did anything stick out in their defensive progression? (3:00)
6) Thoughts on the Jets first round schedule? (4:28)
7) What does home ice advantage mean to them? (5:09)
8) Confidence in preparation for this series (5:56)
9) Matching up (7:31)
10) Being a more physical team this year than last (8:44)
11) Was that part of the downfall last year? (9:24)
12) Hellebuyck vs Binnington (9:32)
13) Hellebuyck an MVP worthy season? (11:00)
14) Did Vilardi skate today? (11:37)

Up next:

The Jets are expected to practice again on Friday as they prepare for game 1 of round 1 on Saturday night in Winnipeg against the Blues. 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 CDT and then check back for the Practice Report.