Pavelec returns after 33 games on the injured list

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This article was published 13/02/2016 (3555 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — After 33 games on the injured list, Winnipeg Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec makes his return to the NHL tonight against the Edmonton Oilers.

It’s a late Hockey Night in Canada start at 9 p.m. CT.

Pavelec has been out since Nov. 21 and comes back to a Jets team that is eight points off the Western Conference playoff line.

At 51 points and last in the Central, the Jets have two more than the Pacific basement-dwellers in the Oilers.

“We get a healthy goaltender back,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said after today’s game-day skate at Rexall Place. “We missed him for three months.”

“He’s worked awful hard. It’s a real long process for a guy like that who’s used to playing to sit out almost three months.

“We pushed him really hard and to his credit we worked him really hard. He’s in good shape, he’s moving quick and he’s excited to get back into the net.”

Jets captain Andrew Ladd said this morning that Pavelec’s return should have some value.

“Anytime you have somebody coming back from injury that’s been such a big part of our team for the last five or six years, you’re hoping for a spark,” the captain said. “I think everyone’s excited to play well in front of him.

“I’m sure he’s pumped to get back in the net.”

The Jets are 4-0-1 in their last five road games and will meet Edmonton rookie sensation Connor McDavid for the first time tonight.

McDavid skipped a rookie-tournament game against Winnipeg in September, and also sat out a pair of NHL exhibition game against the Jets.

In December when the Oilers won 3-1 here, McDavid was out with a broken collarbone.

Since his return after the all-star break, he’s put up 12 points in six games, including a five-point night against the Toronto Maple Leafs here Thursday.

“The speed and skill,” said Maurice, asked about McDavid. “The list is out there, all those things that you guys show on TV every night. He’s a special player and I guess what’s really nice for a lot of their other players is that you didn’t asked me about Taylor Hall, which is the question I used to get last year coming in and (Jordan) Eberle looks like he’s playing pretty well, too.”

It was pointed out in Edmonton this week that Wayne Gretzky had 57 five-point games in his career. McDavid had guessed after Thursday that’s Gretzky’s number was 20.

“That’s a pretty crazy number,” McDavid laughed today. “I felt pretty stupid saying 20 when it was 79 or whatever it was. It’s a pretty big number.”

There was also a light moment in the press room today when Oilers coach Todd McLellan was asked why McDavid gets so many breakaways.

“Have you see how fast he is?’ he said. “He anticipates well and he has the ability to strip pucks and maintain momentum while he’s doing it.

“His read and anticipation skills are elite.”

In goal tonight, the Oilers also counter with a netminding story.

Starter Cam Talbot is ill today and the start will go to rookie Laurent Brossoit, a 22-year-old from B.C.

He has played one NHL game, that last April.

Jets last game at Rexall Place

Tonight’s game will also mark the Jets’ final visit to Rexall Place.

The Oilers will move downtown into the $480-million Rogers Place later this year.

“If anything, I’ll kind of miss the history,” said Jets centre Bryan Little. “For me, it’s more that I’m just glad I got the chance to play here. The same with some of those other old arenas, Long Island, The Igloo, places like that.

“Old arenas have a lot of character and a lot of history in them. I don’t know if I’ll miss playing here but it’s definitely cool every time you come here.”

Ladd, fielding that question this morning, smiled and said he was having flashbacks.

“I’m having flashbacks of that Edmonton-to-Carolina trip,” he said, referring to the 2006 Stanley Cup final. “I think any time you have a building that has this much history and had this many great teams, I think there’s always a little part of everybody that’s sad to see it go but as players, you also know there’s a nice, new rink coming and it’ll be nice to go in there.

“For me, I have a lot of great memories in this building, the Stanley Cup final here so those memories will always be with me.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca