Rest on the agenda for playoff-bound Jets

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This article was published 10/04/2015 (4123 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Strategic and health-related rest will be part of the Winnipeg Jets’ gameplan for the next 24 hours, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters this afternoon at the MTS Centre.

Maurice said today that No. 1 goalie Ondrej Pavelec, who’s been under the weather for a number of days, is being given some time off. Michael Hutchinson will start in goal for Saturday’s afternoon game here against the Calgary Flames.

Connor Hellebuyck has been recalled from the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps to be Hutchinson’s backup on Saturday.

It’s a nothing game from Winnipeg’s perspective, having clinched a playoff spot for the Stanley Cup tournament on Thursday night and being locked into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

The Flames have also secured a spot but have an outside chance to move up to second in the Pacific Division with a victory.

Maurice said today that left-winger Mathieu Perreault, who had to leave Thursday’s game in Denver, will not play on Saturday. He offered some hope that Perreault may not be hurt that badly.

“We’ll see how he goes the next few days,” Maurice said. “I don’t feel right now we’re talking about anything sinister or long-term. We’ll get real good idea in the next three or four days where he’s at.

“It wasn’t catastrophic, we don’t think.”

Maurice said that there are likely to be many lineup changes for Saturday’s game.

It sounded as if centre Bryan Little, who hasn’t been feeling well in the last week, will take an off day.

Maurice also indicated that defencemen Toby Enstrom, who’s been out a week with an injury, and Dustin Byfuglien, who’s missed four games because of suspension, will play against the Flames.

Other health-related lineup decisions could bring some of the team’s depth players out of the pressbox, including Anthony Peluso, T.J. Galiardi, Matt Halischuk and Eric O’Dell.

“I’m going to take the guys out that I think can get better by not playing,” Maurice said. “We’ve had some sickness go through our team. Bryan Little was leaving the bench in Minnesota to get rid of whatever he was able to hold in his stomach.

“We’ve got some guys like that and guys with daily maintenance stuff that we don’t want to see get worse.

“But we will actually have a better chance to win tomorrow because of it.”

Maurice said there will be big movement in the forward lines for Saturday.

Rookie centre Andrew Copp, who signed just two weeks ago, is also an option for Game 82.

“We’ll watch him skate,” Maurice said. “If he goes out and bangs in two, you’re not trading Scheif (Mark Scheifele). And if he comes in and his first game’s a wash and it’s not a great start, what would you expect out of him? It’s a really unusual environment to go into a game in.

“If he’s in the lineup, I’m going to watch him skate and get a feel for him on the bench. I’ve really liked what he’s doing in the skates. You can kind of tell at some point he’s going to fit here because he has a powerful stride, doesn’t cheat on any of the drills. Some of these skates are mentally hard to stay into. There’s only seven guys. But I think he’s going to be just fine but I’m not going to put a whole lot of stock into it one way or the other.”