MORNING LINES
WINNIPEG JETS
The Jets held their morning skate at 10:30 a.m. CT and will roll out the same lineup for a third consecutive game.
FORWARDS
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Ehlers-Perfetti-Niederreiter
Iafallo-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-Namestnikov
DEFENCE
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Dillon-Schmidt
GOAL
Hellebuyck
Brossoit
HEALTHY SCRATCHES
Gustafsson, Stanley, Chisholm
INJURED
Heinola (ankle)
LOS ANGELES KINGS
The visitors hit the ice for an optional skate at 11:30 a.m. CT and project to look like this:
FORWARDS
Byfield-Kopitar-Kempe
Fiala-Dubois-Laferriere
Moore-Danault-Kaliyev
Grundstrom-Lizotte-Lewis
DEFENCE
Anderson-Doughty
Gavrikov-Roy
Bjorfot-Spence
GOAL
Talbot
Copley
HEALTHY SCRATCHES
Lee, Anderson-Dolan, Englund
INJURED
Arvidsson (back)
NOTABLE QUOTABLES
Jets coach Rick Bowness on Kings centre Anze Kopitar:
“I love watching the guy play. He’s a pain in the butt to play against but I love him. I don’t know the guy, but I’ll tell you since he came into the league, I’ve always admired how he played.
“He’s one of my favourite players to watch play the game. He’s a big, strong guy that’s so good at both ends, and he’s so detailed to his game. He’s an elite player and all the recognition he gets, he deserves.”
Bowness, on Vilardi, Iafallo and Kupari facing some former friends tonight
“You can talk all you want, but they’re going to be nervous. They’ve got to get through it. Probably about three or four shifts in they’ll forget they’re the opposition.
“There’s no friends out there. You take that mentality into the game. There’s not. But you’ve got to get through that. You can talk to them all they want, but they’ve got to experience that. Then they’ll be fine. I’m not worried about that.”
Jets captain Adam Lowry on the return of Pierre-Luc Dubois:
“I’m sure there will be a nice tribute and hopefully he gets a round of applause that he deserves. He was a great player for us for a few years. We wish him nothing but the best with the Kings. First and foremost, he’s an awesome guy, an awesome teammate and he likes to have a lot of fun.”
P-L Dubois on facing his former team:
“At the end of the day, it’s the same sport. Just a hockey game. Obviously before the game, after the game, seeing the guys, just being here right now I wanted to skate – I mean, I haven’t been on the away side for three or four years. I wanted to see that and not happen before the game.
“But yeah, seeing the guys in warm up I’m sure is going to feel weird, maybe the first faceoff, stuff like that. But then you get out there and the 60 minutes are just another 60 minutes.
“I know a lot of people might think that it’s a bigger game. But it’s an 82-game season, it’s two points. It’s the same thing. We’re just trying to win.”
Kings centre Philip Danault on Dubois’ return to Winnipeg:
“It’s hard to do, for sure. But just play your game. Once you’re on the ice, you engage yourself and that’s probably the best piece of advice. I know that all eyes are going to be on him. That’s how it is. That’s part of the NHL.”
Kings head coach Todd McLellan on the big summer trade:
“Well trades happen for a number of reasons with both organizations. With ours we looked at what we had on our roster now and what we would have in the future where our hockey club was, and P-L fit that in a different ways. Obviously Anze Kopitar isn’t going to play until he’s 65, even though we’d like him to.
“We just feel that that centre-ice position is so important. The size, the strength, and having fully developed centremen, which is what P-L is, is important for our organization at this point. He’s fit very well, he’s vey attentive, he’s asking real good questions.”
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON
Ken caught up with old friend Dubois following the Kings’ morning skate and will have a story on his return to Winnipeg.
Mike is handling the game analysis tonight. You can read their pieces online at winnipegfreepress.com and in Wednesday’s print edition.
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