Big night for youngsters on the cusp in tonight’s game against Oilers

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This article was published 23/09/2017 (2912 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON – There should be no shortage of motivation and perhaps even desperation for those players expected to suit up tonight in the latest Winnipeg Jets pre-season game.

Coach Paul Maurice is going heavy on youth and inexperience in his lineup as he gets ready for what could be a major cull of his training camp roster as early as Sunday.

Many of the same players who skated Thursday in St. Paul against the Minnesota Wild will make the trip here to Edmonton for tonight’s contest, which is set to begin at 8 p.m. Maurice wanted to go young again for a second straight game to help get a better read on many of the players considered to be on the bubble.

“So this is a big night for a lot of them,” Maurice said of the game against the Oilers. “They get two games of the first four to make their case.”

Winnipeg is still searching for its first preseason win but could be in tough against an Edmonton lineup expected to include superstar Connor McDavid.

The Jets lost 3-2 in a shootout to Minnesota on Monday and fell 4-1 to Edmonton on Wednesday, despite icing more talented lineups than their opponents in those first two home games. The more inexperienced squad then lost 1-0 in Minnesota on Thursday.

Despite the lackluster on-ice results so far, Maurice insists there’s no cause for concern.

“I really like the level that we’re at, the effort that’s in camp, the focus by the whole group,” Maurice said Friday as the second full week of training camp began. “We’re working on some really really specific things. We haven’t done any offensive work. No line rushes really in terms of trying to get pucks. We haven’t done breakouts, counters, regroups. That’s all next week. Next week is speed, the first week was grind. I like where we’re at.”

Winnipeg still has 44 players in camp including 25 forwards, 14 defencemen and five goalies.

The Jets are also dealing with a few bumps and bruises. Forward Joel Armia left Thursday’s game early and was not on the ice Friday. Bryan Little also didn’t skate Friday. Maurice said both are day-to-day with minor issues.

With a smaller group expected following this weekend — and only three more pre-season games left — there will be a big push to get ready for the Oct. 4 start of the regular-season.

TONIGHT’S EXPECTED LINEUP:

GOAL:

Eric Comrie

Michael Hutchinson

Jamie Phillips

DEFENCE:

Tucker Poolman

Dmitry Kulikov

Ben Chiarot

Dustin Byfuglien

Josh Morrissey

Julian Melchiori

FORWARDS:

Mike Sgarbossa

Andrew Copp

Brandon Tanev

Shawn Matthias

Adam Lowry

Nic Petan

JC Lipon

Brendan Lemieux

Jack Roslovic

Marko Dano

Chase De Leo

Michael Spacek

Kyle Connor

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca