Brossoit in goal for the Jets tonight with Copp and Lowry sitting out

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This article was published 22/12/2018 (2450 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — The Winnipeg Jets will be looking to head home for the holidays with two more points in the bank as they wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule tonight in Vancouver.

Standing in their way is a surging Canucks squad that has gone 6-1-1 in the past eight to climb back into the Western Conference playoff picture. They are just one point behind Edmonton for the final wildcard spot.

“A completely different team then we saw the last time. I think they had seven guys out the last time we saw them. We had pretty good control that game, start to finish,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said following the morning skate at Rogers Arena of that 6-3 Winnipeg victory last month.

“Whenever Vancouver’s been healthy, and this goes back to the start of last year, I’ve liked their game, I’ve liked their team, they play hard, they play quick. Transition quick. Lots of speed when they’re going. And now they’ve added another touch of skill to their lineup that they didn’t have last year. They’re going to be a good team in here tonight. They’re going to be excited. You get into a Canadian market where maybe you’ve struggled a little bit, when you get on a roll, man, you can get dangerous, get the crowd behind you. So that’s what we’re expecting here.”

The Jets, of course, are sitting pretty on top of both the Central Division and the West, thanks largely to a 10-2-0 run. They’ve split the first two games of this western swing, falling 4-1 in Los Angeles Tuesday night and then beating San Jose 5-3 Thursday night.

“Coming into the game, both teams are in the same spot going into the break. It’s just about preparation, coming in make sure you’re ready, getting yourself going during warm-ups and make sure we try to end it off on a good note before we spend some time with the family,” said defenceman Tyler Myers.

Backup goalie Laurent Brossoit will start for Winnipeg, looking to build on his 7-0-1 record in eight previous starts this season. Adam Lowry will miss a second-straight game with an upper-body injury, and Andrew Copp will miss his 10th straight as he recovers from concussion symptoms.

“Our expectation is that both of them will be in the lineup against Calgary,” Maurice said, referring to the Jets first game out of the Christmas break on Dec. 27 against the Flames at Bell MTS Place.

That means another chance for Jack Roslovic to centre the third line with Mathieu Perreault and Brandon Tanev, and Nic Petan to remain in the lineup centering the fourth line with Mason Appleton and Brendan Lemieux.

Joe Morrow will be the lone healthy scratch for the Jets.

This is the end of a stretch of nine games in 16 days for the Jets, a homestand, a quick trip to Chicago, another home game and now this west coast swing.

“I think we’ve handled it well. We’ve been fortunate. We’ve been reasonably healthy through that and we’ve got some really fine goaltending mixed into that. It’s been decent hockey. I think the early part of our nine in 16 we played very, very well. I don’t think we’re really bragging about our last two. But a road win in San Jose, you’ll take it any way you can get it,” said Maurice.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg

PROJECTED JETS LINEUP

G:

Brossoit

F:

Ehlers – Scheifele – Wheeler

Connor – Little – Laine

Perreault – Roslovic – Tanev

Lemieux – Petan – Appleton

D:

Morrissey – Trouba

Chiarot – Byfuglien

Kulikov – Myers