The Winnipeg Jets would like to give their
medical staff a much-needed break and the work load could start to
lessen ever so slightly tonight against the Chicago
Blackhawks.
When center Paul Stastny stiffened up at the beginning of the
warmup Tuesday night in Nashville, necessitating Shawn Matthias to
parachute down from the press box, he became the ninth member of
the team in sick bay. The Jets, in fact, lost a total of seven
players to the injured list on their just-completed six-game road
trip, which wrapped up with a 3-1 loss against the Predators. That
dropped their record over the last 10 days to 3-2-1 but they're
still solidly in second place in the Central Division.
The infirmary now boasts centers Mark Scheifele, Adam Lowry, Matt
Hendricks and Stastny, defenseman Jacob Trouba, Toby Enstrom and
Dmitri Kulikov and goalies Steve Mason and Michael Hutchinson.
Hutchinson was summoned off the ice by the concussion police after
taking a puck to the mask in the first period Tuesday night, but
not before he had surrendered three goals -- including two in 34
seconds while the Jets were on the power play -- requiring the
emergency backup to scamper down to the dressing room to suit up
and sit on the bench.
Trouba, the Jets' No. 1 defenseman by most statistical
measurements, could be in the lineup against the Blackhawks.
Scheifele, Lowry and Enstrom are also reportedly days away from
joining him. The Jets called up goalie Eric Comrie from the
Manitoba Moose to back up Connor Hellebuyck.
"We've dealt with a lot of things throughout the years, and
injuries have been one of our big things," veteran defenseman
Dustin Byfuglien told The Winnipeg Free Press following Tuesday's
loss. "It's never easy to continue doing what we've been doing with
that many guys out of the lineup."
The Blackhawks come to town on a hope and a prayer, sitting 14
points back of the two wild-card playoff spots in the Western
Conference after having split a home-and-home series with the
Boston Bruins on the weekend. They will almost certainly end their
nine-year run of making the playoffs -- hockey-reference.com
predicts they have a 0.2 percent chance of qualifying for the
postseason -- just one season after posting 50 wins, the second
most in the NHL that year and second most in franchise history.
Forward Patrick Kane said there's no question who his team will be
focused on not just tonight but in two more games during the
season's final month -- Jets sniper Patrik Laine, who is currently
second in the NHL with 41 goals. Kane said he thinks the Finnish
phenom uses a "unique" stick.
"From what I noticed, it's almost one of those two-pieced sticks,"
he told The Chicago Daily Herald. "He's got an (Alex) Ovechkin
curve, where he's got a big toe hook and he puts the puck in the
pocket in the toe and just kind of leaves it on his stick. You see
all of his goals, they're rocket shots into places he wants it to
go. It's pretty impressive."
