The Winnipeg Jets have had a chance to catch their breath after dropping their first regulation game of the season to the Ducks on Friday night in Winnipeg. The coaching staff kept the group off the ice for two straight days before practice resumed on Monday, giving the team a little extra time to reset before tonight’s meeting with the Minnesota Wild.
One of the bigger questions remains Josh Morrissey. The defenceman skated ahead of the main group yesterday, which points to him still working through an injury that has been described as day-to-day and not yet being ready to jump back into the lineup.
Up front, Nino Niederreiter is back in the line combinations, bringing some added size to the second line. His return set off a shuffle through the forward group, with every line changing except the top unit. Brad Lambert is listed as the 13th forward.
Minnesota comes in on short rest after playing last night in St. Paul against the Golden Knights.
The Wild opened up a 3-0 lead and eventually came away with a 4-2 win, but the victory came with a setback: Nico Sturm left after being hit in the head by a puck. Earlier in the day, Minnesota had already recalled Tyler Pitlick from AHL Iowa, giving the club another forward option for tonight’s matchup with Winnipeg.
Per Minnesota beat writer Michael Russo, Calvin Pickard is expected to start in net, which would create a goaltending matchup between the Winnipegger and his former Oilers teammate Stuart Skinner.
Projected Jets lines and defence pairs are Connor-Scheifele-Perfetti, Niederreiter-Björck-Vilardi, Rosén-Lowry-Iafallo, and Koepke-Barron-Namestnikov, with Samberg-DeMelo, Ferraro-Pionk, and Fleury-Bauer on the back end. Skinner is listed in goal.
The Wild are projected to go with Kaprizov-Eriksson Ek-Boldy, Coleman-Hartman-Shabanov, Lorentz-Yurov-Brink, and Pitlick-McCarron-Trenin up front, with Hughes-Spurgeon, Maatta-Brodin, and Hunt-Bogosian on defence. Pickard is the expected starter.
The puck drops at 7:15 PM CT. Winnipeg and Minnesota come into this Central Division matchup on even footing, with neither side holding a clear edge. For the Jets, the path back starts with discipline, strong special teams and taking advantage of a Minnesota team playing on consecutive nights.
Puck drop is at 7:15 PM CT. Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. You can join us on our YouTube channel for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show around 9:55 PM CT as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.
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