Brossoit in Jets’ net tonight against stampeding Sabres

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This article was published 16/11/2018 (2486 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets will try to get out the brooms and go for the sweep on home ice when they welcome the Buffalo Sabres to town tonight.

Winnipeg has won the first three games of this four-game homestand to improve to 11-5-1 on the year. But they will face a tall task in the surging Sabres, who have also won three straight to sit at 10-6-2.

“They’ve got a lot of guys with speed. They’ve got a young group there that’s trying to build and they’re playing really well right now. It’s going to be a good test for us, they’ve got some elite players up front and, obviously, some great guys on the back end. It will be a big test,” defenceman Josh Morrissey said following the morning skate at Bell MTS Place.

Backup goalie Laurent Brossoit gets the start in net for the Jets, looking to improve on his perfect 3-0-0 record this season. There will be no other lineup changes, meaning Sami Niku and Brendan Lemieux will once again be the healthy scratches.

Morrissey and the Jets dodged a bullet Thursday when he was fined, but not suspended, for a dangerous hit to Washington’s T.J. Oshie in Wednesday night’s 3-1 victory. Morrissey forcibly threw Oshie to the ice, and the veteran forward appeared to suffer a head injury on the play.

“Just trying to make a hard defensive play. Minute left in the game. I thought we kinda got tangled up and went down. Unfortunately he went down awkwardly. You never want to see a guy hurt or in an uncomfortable situation. But I think plays happen in games. Like I said it was unfortunate the way he went down. Just trying to move on and focus on tonight’s game,” Morrissey said.

Some compared the play to one involving Florida’s Mike Matheson and Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson from earlier in the year in which Matheson was suspended for two games.

“Everyone can interpret everything the way they would like to. But no, I’m not going to comment on the other situation or anything like that. Like I said, trying to make a hard defensive play, we’re up by one with a minute left. Nothing retaliatory, nothing prior going on in the game. Trying to make a good defensive play and things happen,” said Morrissey.

“Like I said, I don’t ever play the game to hurt anybody. Would never want to see that happen. I mean I felt bad right away, no matter how I felt the play went. Just trying to move on from it. The league made their decision and I respect that. Like I said I’m focusing on tonight’s game. It’s a big one.”

Following tonight’s game, Winnipeg hits the road for four straight beginning next Monday in Vancouver with stops in Calgary, Minnesota and St. Louis to follow.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg