Kulikov back on the ice tonight for Jets
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/02/2018 (2778 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Mark Scheifele will miss his 15th consecutive game tonight when Winnipeg hosts the Colorado Avalanche tonight (6 p.m., Sportsnet, TSN 1290) but the star centre could be less than a week away from a return to the Jets lineup.
Schiefele, who sustained an upper-body injury when he crashed into the boards in a game against the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 27, participated in an optional pre-game morning skate Saturday after wearing a non-contact jersey earlier in the week.
Head coach Paul Maurice said Scheifele would not play Tuesday against the visiting Arizona Coyotes but could return Friday against the St. Louis Blues.
“That’s the next step is for him to get the contact,” said Maurice. “It’ll happen I think some time this week. It might be Monday — that’ll be up to medical. Once he hits that and he has to get through it — probably a couple of days of it. He’s not going to have any conditioning curve here because it’s upper body because he’s been able to skate and he’s a real fit guy.”
Winnipeg’s third line centre Adam Lowry will also sit tonight after aggravating an upper-body injury. Maurice said Lowry’s injury is not a long-term problem.
In other injury news, defenceman Dmitry Kulikov will dress tonight after missing three games with a concussion. Maurice plans to play the left-handed Kulikov on the right side of the third blue-line pairing with Ben Chiarot. Kulikov has played the bulk of the 2017-18 season on the left side with Tyler Myers.
Connor Hellebuyck will get the start in net for the Jets while Semyon Varlamov gets the nod for the Avs. Varlamov has not played since suffering a groin injury on Jan. 2. Jonathan Bernier has started 13 straight games for Colorado, going 10-2-1 in that span.
“He’s been practising for quite some time,” said Avs head coach Jared Bednar about Varlamov. “So we’ll throw him into the fire tonight here in Winnipeg.”
The Avs are missing star centre Nathan MacKinnon who was sidelined with an upper-body injury on Jan. 30.
“Even though he’s out I think they’re still a dangerous team,” said veteran Jets centre Bryan Little. “They’re playing really well lately. I mean, I think we’ve rebounded well after tough losses this year and tonight’s going to be another test for us to see where we’re at.”
Added sophomore forward Patrik Laine: “They are a good team. Obviously, MacKinnon is down now so that’s a good thing for us but it’s unfortunate to see somebody go down and get injured. They have a lot of skill on their team and they have a good defence and some skillful forwards so we’ve gotta be careful and try to win.”
mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @sawa14
