Big Buff back on the ice, may play against Flames

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This article was published 15/03/2016 (3491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dustin Byfuglien is back at his post with the Winnipeg Jets, but will have to continue winning his battle with the flu over the next few hours before his return to the lineup gets the green light.

The Jets defenceman was one of 12 skaters on the ice for the Jets in Calgary today, one day after missing Monday’s win over the Vancouver Canucks due to illness. Jets coach Paul Maurice said after the workout that Byfuglien will be a game-time decision for Wednesday’s tilt against the Flames.

“Hopeful… we’ll see,” Maurice told reporters in Calgary. “He’s got to get through probably another 24 hours of keeping food down and feeling good. Then if he’s strong (Wednesday), he’ll go back in. But we’ll wait and see.”

Monday was the first time this season Byfuglien had missed a game. He was replaced by Julian Melchiori, who was summoned from the Manitoba Moose earlier in the day and in the lineup for the win over the Canucks alongside Tyler Myers.

The Jets served up a solid defensive effort against the Canucks, with the No. 1 defence pairing of Toby Enstrom and Jacob Trouba particularly effective. Maurice raved today about the work of veteran Toby Enstrom, who is quietly having another solid season.

“Toby was fantastic (Monday) and there’s one truth to our defence: whoever plays with Toby plays well,” said Maurice. “And from the analytics numbers, whoever is Toby’s partner, gives up fewer red-zone shots, gets more red-zone shots, turnovers are cut down, clean entries go up… he’s just been fantastic.

“For a man his size, he’s incredibly effective at getting the puck out of a tough area and putting it on somebody’s stick.”

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Trouba (24 minutes, 47 seconds) and Enstrom (22:54) were the top two minutes eaters in Monday’s win and looked comfortable, again, playing with each other.

“He’s a very special player and very easy to play with,” Trouba told Jets TV. “He brings the puck up by himself a lot of the time just with his quickness and his ability to handle the puck. We just try to talk as much as we can and I try to read off him. I thought it went pretty well.”