Kulikov expected back tonight

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This article was published 03/02/2018 (2777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dmitry Kulikov is expected to make his return to the Winnipeg Jets lineup tonight. But the veteran defenceman isn’t very happy about the hit that knocked him out of the lineup for the past three games.

Kulikov suffered a concussion during a game on Jan. 23 in San Jose, whenTomas Hertl hit him from behind and drove him head-first into the glass. Hertl was given a five-minute boarding major and a game misconduct, but the NHL took no further disciplinary action against the Sharks forward.

Kulikov said Friday he was told the league felt he was at least partially to blame for the play, as they felt he changed his positioning at the last second and left himself vulnerable.

“I thought I had my back to him the whole time. There wasn’t any reason to come in at full speed and try to hit. There wasn’t anywhere I was going to absorb the hit. I was trying to protect the puck. He came in from behind and didn’t even think of stopping,” Kulikov said.

“What the referees decide, (they decide). On my end, I don’t think I would do that to anybody. But if it’s legal, maybe I should start doing that.”

Kulikov said this is the second concussion of his NHL career, with the other coming last season in Buffalo.

“The last one was a little different from this one, (with) different symptoms. This time, I just had some kind of headaches for most of the time. Was just not feeling right. But once the headaches went away, I started working out and feeling good and went from there,” he said.

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Jets centre Adam Lowry left Thursday’s game midway through the third period with an upper-body injury and could be on the shelf once again. Lowry, who was playing in just his second game after missing the previous eight, still was being evaluated Friday.

“It’s not significant. We don’t think it will be a tremendous amount of time,” head coach Paul Maurice said, without providing further details about the nature of the injury.

He left the door open for Lowry to play tonight. If he can’t go, Andrew Copp would slide over to centre the third line, and Marko Dano would draw back into the lineup.

Defenceman Tyler Myers also left Thursday’s game late in the third period after blocking a shot but was a full participant at practice.

“Just a stinger,” Maurice said. “It’s a long leg to lose feeling in (Myers is 6-8). He’s fine.”

Defenceman Toby Enstrom missed practice as he is believed to be dealing with a minor injury.

Mark Scheifele practised with the team Friday but was still in a yellow no-contact jersey. He’s believed to be about a week away from a return from a shoulder injury suffered Dec. 27.

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It’s the kind of depth most teams dream of.

Winnipeg now has a league-leading eight players who have hit double-digit totals in goals this season. Joel Armia was the latest member to join the club, tying a career-high with his 10th of the season Thursday night.

He joins Patrik Laine (23), Nikolaj Ehlers (19), Kyle Connor (17), Mark Scheifele (15), Mathieu Perreault (15), Blake Wheeler (14) and Bryan Little (11).

With 30 regular-season games left, that’s an impressive feat.

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Speaking of Connor, he looks to be picking up some offensive steam lately. He had the game-tying goal and an assist on Thursday night, and also scored in Tuesday’s 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

All of this is occurring since being bumped down from the first line to the fourth.

“It’s trending in the right direction. I think I can use my speed a little bit more in some situations. But it’s something to build on, for sure,” Connor said Friday of his recent play.

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Josh Morrissey still can’t believe he didn’t score. The Jets defenceman had a glorious chance to end Thursday’s game in overtime, only to ring one off the post during a wild goal-mouth scramble.

“I don’t know how it goes off the post and sort of comes out on the angle it did. I was messing around with it at practice today and it went in every time, if that’s any consolation,” Morrissey said.

“I was really good at physics in high school but obviously fell short a little bit there.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg