Sure things: Death, taxes and Pavelec in the pipes

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This article was published 28/03/2015 (3839 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sometimes there’s secrecy and sometimes there are days like Saturday.

“Pav’s playing,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said, a very direct answer to his apparent goaltending connundrum for Sunday’s game at the MTS Centre against the Chicago Blackhawks.

“He’s fresh and ready and playing the best hockey I’ve seen him play.”

Maurice said he didn’t care about Pavelec’s career record of 0-3-2 vs. Chicago.

Michael Hutchinson has a mark of 3-1-0 against the Hawks this season.

“It won’t matter, because at some point you’ve got to change your history against any team to get where to you where want to get to,” Maurice said about playing Pavelec.

“Had the rotation been different coming in… certainly I looked at that, but the way it’s played out, this one was an easy call.”

Pavelec has won his last six starts, with a goals-against average of 1.15 and a save percentage of .964.

As they enter their final seven games, a playoff spot in the Western Conference hanging in the balance, the Jets come into tonight’s game with two days between this one and their last outing, Thursday’s 5-2 win over Montreal.

After that game, Maurice said his team was fatigued, including mentally, and looked it until it got going as the game progressed.

“I think we had a long stretch of games there and it’s towards the end of the year so it’s going to happen,” defenceman Jacob Trouba said Saturday. “But we stepped up when we needed to.

“We had a great game out of our goalie and you need that sometimes. Yeah, I think these two days will help us just kind of get re-energized and get our bodies back to the way they need to be.”

Winnipeg, at 90 points in 75 games, holds the final wild-card position in the west.

 

Mathieu Perreault is a good bet to return to the lineup tonight, after being out 16 games, but Maurice hinted he’d rather hold Bryan Little and Ben Chiarot back a little longer.

Little his missed 10 games (upper body) and Chiarot 14 (broken hand).

“All three now have moved into that very close range,” Maurice said.

“They all got through practice today. Matty may be available as soon as possible, but still has to be cleared to play.

“He has to come back tomorrow feeling at least as good as when he left today.

“Bryan is very close to that as well. I’d be very reluctant to put two players coming back off longer-term injuries in the lineup at the same time.”

It’s more likely Little and Chiarot will come back in next week.

The Jets meet the New York Rangers here Tuesday and the Vancouver Canucks next Saturday afternoon.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca