Byfuglien, and Jets, happy to have him on the ice tonight against the Leafs

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This article was published 04/11/2015 (3610 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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TORONTO — There is clear relief around the Winnipeg Jets even a day after the NHL ruled that defenceman Dustin Byfuglien would not be handed further discipline after clobbering Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher on Sunday night.

The league conducted a hearing into that hit on Tuesday but exonerated Byfuglien.

“It definitely feels good to be playing,” Byfuglien said after this morning’s day-of-game skate at Air Canada Centre. The contest against the Maple Leafs starts at 6 p.m. CT tonight (Sportsnet, TSN1290). “It’s tough for them to make calls. They’ve got a job to do, too. I just said my words and I’m not trying to make body contact or any of that. They’ve got to do what they’ve got to do but I’m happy I get to play.

“As a team we’ve just got to move forward now.”

Byfuglien had to wait about three hours between hearing and decision, and practise in between on Tuesday. While he was waiting, he expressed some frustration that he was under the microscope for the check.

“Yeah, I was just kind of wondering what kind of afternoon it could turn out to be, the grumpy one or the one that was just getting prepared for the game,” Byfuglien said today. “Yeah, it (the decision in his favour) was nice. I think my wife was more relieved than I was.”

Jets coach Paul Maurice said this morning he was certain Byfuglien wasn’t guilty of anything illegal.

“I guess pleased is the word but I didn’t think he was getting suspended,” Maurice said. “I didn’t think there would be a penalty on the play. I’d go through the reasons why but he wasn’t checking, he had touched the puck and was arcing back up the ice.

“It was almost the exact same play (against) Calgary when he scored that goal but their guy got out of the way. Buff’s going to the puck and like I said, if you watch him as much as we do here, he lays off 85 per cent of what he does. He is that big and strong. He is careful what he does on that ice but some of the collisions don’t look like it.

“But he has to be or he’d be getting reviewed with everything, he’s so big.”

Jets captain Andrew Ladd said the team was happy about the result of the hearing.

“Obviously we don’t want to lose the big man for any period of time,” he said. “He’s such a big part of our back end and our power play and our physical game. We’re obviously happy with the decision and excited to have him in here tonight.”

Tonight, the Jets are out to atone for a poor performance in Montreal, a 5-1 loss to the Habs.

“I think any time you go through a loss like that, they kicked our butts pretty good, you should be pissed off and we need to get another crack at it,” Ladd said. “We had a good skate today and we’ll have a good test against a team that plays extremely hard and is going to play a tight game tonight.”

Maurice indicated the focus has moved to tonight’s game, that the Montreal game and the discipline hearing are now in the rear-view mirror.

“We did not like our game from behind the bench and on the bench so we’ve got to answer for that and get ourselves back to feeling good,” the coach said. “It’s about how you play the game.”

The Jets recalled Patrice Cormier today from the Moose and placed rookie centre Andrew Copp on the injured reserve list.

Copp was hurt Saturday night in Columbus in the game in which he scored his first NHL goal. He didn’t play Sunday in Montreal and missed Tuesday’s practice.

It looks like tonight’s goaltending match will be Ondrej Pavelec for the 7-4-1 Jets against James Reimer for the 2-7-2 Leafs.

 

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca