WINNIPEG – When the puck drops on preseason game number five for the Winnipeg Jets tonight, head coach Rick Bowness hopes they’re facing off with a more veteran heavy line-up from the Calgary Flames.
“When we are evaluating the kids like we are right now, the stronger the lineup that they’re facing, it will give us a better look at how close these guys are to playing,” said Bowness. “It’s a little bit easier to play when you play against their juniors and guys from the farm team or the development team. Hopefully we’ll see a strong lineup and then we’ll see where we are.”
Based on the morning skate of the visitors, that’s what the Jets will get.
Calgary staples Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane, and Rasmus Andersson are in the line-up, as are new acquisitions Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Mackenzie Weegar.
“When you line up against a team that’s going to look a lot closer to their opening day line-up, you feel the intensity ramping up,” said the Jets forward. Adam Lowry. “We’ll use these next two games against Calgary – who had a great season last year and had some big changes in the off-season – we look at them as another team that’s one of the good measuring sticks for where you’re at. in the league.”
Video: PREGAME | Adam Lowry
For their part, the Jets will also have a more veteran line-up.
Players like Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connorand Nikolaj Ehlers will get into their second game of preseason action, as will Sam Gagner.
“I’m looking forward to getting in tonight and getting sharper and sharper,” said Gagner. “Every day you come to practice you compete. Nothing really simulates playing in a game, so I’m excited to get into it tonight.”
The only experienced players on the Jets roster that won’t play tonight are Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jansen Harkins, Nate Schmidt, Brendan Dillon, Blake Wheelerand Connor Hellebuyck. Also not in the line-up are Johnathan Kovacevic and Kyle Capobianco.
Winnipeg’s line-up is expected to break down like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Ehlers
Barron-Lowry-Appleton
Perfetti-Toninato-Lambert
Maenalanen-Gustafsson-Gagner
Morrissey-DeMelo
Stanley-Pionk
Samberg-Heinola
Winnipeg is 2-1-1 in the preseason, but haven’t played a game since Saturday’s shootout loss to Edmonton.
Bowness’ message to the group – specifically to those trying to crack the Jets line-up for opening night – is to make use of every opportunity because those chances are running out.
“Some of these guys won’t get another game after tonight,” said Bowness. “No one has played their way off the roster. That’s why they’re still here. Even the guys that aren’t playing, they haven’t played their way out of here yet. We can’t get them all in, but we’re going to do the best we can.”
Video: PREGAME | Sam Gagner
Lowry also sees these last two games as a chance to cement the team’s new systems against a strong opponent. When the regular season begins, time and space on the ice comes at a premium, and the Jets don’t want to give that away for free.
“You want to use these next two games to iron out any second guessing you might have, where you’re thinking and going instead of just going,” said Lowry. “(The coaches) have done a great job of integrating that into our practices, slowing it down when we need to, and doing a lot of video and teaching.”
The Jets will enjoy these two games in the next three days to close out the preseason schedule. Once the game against Calgary ends on Friday this week, Winnipeg won’t play again until the following Friday in their season (and home) opener against the New York Rangers.
It’s not ideal, but Bowness and the Jets will make full use of the valuable game time they have before the preseason ends.
Just another reason why these next two games are so important.
“When we play the Rangers on the 14th, that will be their third game and that will be our first,” said Bowness. “I’m not a fan of practicing three, four, five days in a row. I’m not. But based on the schedule that we have and the days we have to practice, we’re going to do it and we have to take full advantage of it.”
Puck drop is set for 7 pm CT, with the game streamed on WinnipegJets.com
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