Perreault good to go tonight

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This article was published 03/10/2016 (3290 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Mathieu Perreault has a clean bill of health and will be in the Winnipeg Jets’ lineup tonight against the Ottawa Senators in pre-season action at MTS Centre.

The 28-year-old centre, who signed a four-year extension with the club in July, was forced out of last Thursday’s contest against the Minnesota Wild after an awkward collision with Wild winger Kurtis Gabriel.

“I just got a bump and something didn’t feel right,” said Perreault, who wouldn’t comment further on the injury after Monday’s pre-game skate at MTS Iceplex.

Perreault will man the middle of the ice between Kyle Connor and Drew Stafford tonight in what could be a preview of one of the team’s lines a week from Thursday when the Jets open the 2016-17 at home against the Carolina Hurricanes.

“We’re just trying to build some chemistry for some of the guys,” Perreault said. “This could potentially be a line eventually so we are just going to work on things and see how it goes.”

Dustin Byfuglien, Mark Scheifele, Nik Ehlers and Blake Wheeler will be back on the ice tonight.

New captain Wheeler, who played several games for the U.S. team at the World Cup of Hockey and one pre-season game with the Jets — with Scheifele and Patrik Laine — said the exhibition-season grind is challenging.

“The important thing is you want to get on the same page with the guys you’re playing with,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity to build that chemistry, so when the season starts you’re feeling good about where you’re at.”

Wheeler is expected to play on the wing with Scheifele centring the line and Nikolaj Ehlers lining up on the left side.

“Hopefully we can pick up where we left off last year,” Wheeler said. “I think the three of us do well when we’re skating. Those two guys skate as well as anyone on the team so I’m constantly trying to keep up with them. That’s exciting, playing behind the puck a little bit. They create a lot of offence out there. When any of us beats a guy with our legs, good things seem to happen.”

Meanwhile, 26-year-old netminder Michael Hutchinson gets his second start between the pipes and is expected to go the distance against the Senators.

“I felt good last game playing 60 minutes so that’s what you want,” Hutchinson said. “Getting through that mental grind of 60 minutes when you haven’t played in a while… 60 minutes is a long time.”

Hutchinson turned aside 33 of 34 shots in his first game against Edmonton last week and the Jets have allowed just two goals in their last three games with three different puck stoppers.

“Everyone has played well and the team has played extremely well in front of us,” he said. “For us, we’ve been able to do our jobs and stop the pucks. The players have made our job easy.”

Logic would suggest that three goalies playing at a good clip could make it more difficult for head coach Paul Maurice to choose his starting goaltender on Oct. 13, but…

“Not as tough if they weren’t playing as well as they did,” he said. “I think the last three (exhibition) games there will be a little more meat on the bone and you’ll see heavier lineups, more NHL shooters. We’ve given them pretty good opportunity in the games that I’ve seen to play well,” he said.

“It’s what we had hoped. Strong, healthy competition through good play.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @scottbilleck