Jets Little to return to centre for game against Senators tonight

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This article was published 29/09/2015 (3638 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Closer to their actual team after a major roster trim on Monday, the Winnipeg Jets move to near-real conditions for pre-season game No. 5 tonight at the MTS Centre against the Ottawa Senators.

“I’m more concerned with how we look and how we play but the last three games… are going to be more of a veteran group,” said Jets coach Paul Maurice, his team 0-2-2 in the pre-season so far. “So we’re looking to look more like the way we should in these last three games.”

The team will ice a more experienced lineup than in Sunday’s 8-1 defeat in Minnesota.

The top line of Bryan Little, Andrew Ladd and Alex Burmistrov will be together tonight.

Among the items that were a flap among the short-sighted earlier in camp, one seems to have disappeared — at least for today — with Little returning to centre.

Maurice had pondered using Burmistrov and/or Adam Lowry in the middle on the top line, and still might at some point, but being at a serious junction of the exhibition schedule, reality likely has taken hold.

“I don’t know if I’m happy,” Little said this morning, readying for his first action of the pre-season. He had a minor ailment that kept him out of earlier games. “I kind of knew it could change any day. The most I got out of wing was an inter-squad game and a practice.

“Down the line I could change at any point and if things aren’t working out he could switch me to wing during the season.

“I’m always ready to do it and whatever he says I’ll kind of go along with.”

He said his goal tonight will be: “Keep it really simple and super-short shifts.”

The Jets’ more veteran lineup tonight is a launching point from a lot of evaluation to more of a preparation process, winger Drew Stafford said.

“For us, this last week, now that we’re getting close to our regular lineup, our habits can get more locked in and the speed and quickness with which we play can get ramped up,” he said. “They might still give some younger guys one more look but compared to last week, it’s pretty much our team.

“It starts in practice and we’re slowly getting back in. It’s all about doing whatever we can to make sure we’re ready to go against Boston (next week).”

Here’s what the Jets lineup could look like tonight:

Ladd-Little-Burmistrov
Stafford-Scheifele-Wheeler
Perreault-Lowry-Ehlers
Petan-Copp-Thorburn

Chiarot-Byfuglien
Enstrom-Myers
Stuart-Postma

Pavelec
Hutchinson

 

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca