Lowry, Copp back in lineup tonight against Flames

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This article was published 27/12/2018 (2504 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets welcome a pair of injured forwards back to the lineup tonight as they come out of the holiday break to host the Calgary Flames at Bell MTS Place.

Andrew Copp has missed the past 10 games with concussion symptoms, while Adam Lowry sat out two games with an upper-body injury.

Copp will return on the fourth line with Jack Roslovic and Mason Appleton, and Lowry will be back in his familiar spot centring the third line, with Brandon Tanev and Mathieu Perreault on his wings.

Nic Petan and Brendan Lemieux will both come out of the lineup.

“Adam has missed two games, so we’re expecting him to jump right back in. Andrew, it’s been a little longer period of time, but (he’s a) very smart player,” coach Paul Maurice said after the team’s morning skate.

“He’s not a guy who lives and dies on how his hands feel that night, whether he’s going to get four points or not to decide whether he’s played well. He’s going to be positionally real strong. They’re both penalty killers, and we’ve clearly lacked that.”

Lowry has five goals and five assists in 34 games. Copp has two goals and two assists in 23 games.

“Anxious to get back out there, for sure. Kind of a longer road than we expected,” said Copp, who initially missed three games with a concussion, returned for two and then was back out with issues he said that were more whiplash-related.

The Jets (24-10-2) are looking to pick up where they left off before Christmas, as they’ve won two straight and 11 of their past 13. They sit first overall in both the Central Division and the Western Conference.

The Flames (22-12-3) sit atop t he Pacific Division.

Connor Hellebuyck starts in net for the Jets, looking for his 100th career regular-season victory.

Winnipeg had a night to forget in Calgary last month, falling behind 5-1 after the first period in an eventual 6-3 loss. The Flames have plenty of high-powered offensive weapons, including Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm, who are all averaging more than a point per game.

“There’s always that unknown out of Christmas breaks, All-Star breaks. It’s always there. But I think with these two teams, they’re really structured well and they understand their game. I think both of these teams get to their level very quickly,” Maurice said, in anticipation of tonight’s matchup.

“In order to get to that, we’re probably both preaching the same thing. You keep this thing as simple as you possibly can.”

David Rittich is expected to be in goal for the Flames.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg