It was good news for the Jets and their fans as at the optional morning skate Mark Scheifele was out on the rink and in a regular contact jersey. After practice Paul Maurice explained that it was possible for Scheifele to be back for the Feb 9th game. (credit to Scott Billeck for the first tweet on this).
However, that does not change the challenge for tonight as the Jets host the Avalanche without Adam Lowry. Lowry did not finish the game on Thursday after taking a puck to the face and it is believed he aggravated the upper body injury that had kept him out for nearly a month. The belief is that the won't be out long but that is what was said when he was firs injured. In this case it appears Andrew Copp will centre Tanev and Armia.
The lines for tonight will likely be as follows:
Laine Wheeler Roslovic Perreault Little Ehlers Tanev Copp Armia Connor Hendricks Dano
Defence
Morrissey Myers Enstrom Byfuglien Chiarot Kulikov
Looking at these moves there two curious things worth discussing, Connor Hendricks Dano and Chiarot Kulikov.
The 4th line sees Connor playing with the Maurice-approved Hendricks and giving Marko Dano a shot again. In that combination the Jets have a scorer with Connor, and player who drives scoring chances in Dano and then Hendricks.
Neither Dano or Connor, alone or together, are the equivalent of what Perreault was for that line but it is certainly a far cry better than any that have played in prior seasons. Given the match-up advantage of home ice and speed that the Avalanche play with, seeing their usage tonight should be worth watching and tracking.
The Chiarot Kulikov pairing is an odd one considering that Kulikov is now playing his off side. Is Maurice of the opinion that Kullikov on his off side is better than Poolman on his regular side? Furthermore is Kulikov on his off side with Chiarot a better combo than simply Kulikov Poolman?
This could be an adventure tonight if the Avalanche get a favourable match-up and use their speed agains this pairing While Kulikov is not a horrible skater he is also not swift and Chiarot is not fleet of foot either. Like the 4th line, the 3rd pairing will be something to watch tonight.
If you haven't been reading much about the Jets lately you've probably missed some of the interesting things being said about the 3rd line and their tough minutes assignments, in particular with Adam Lowry. Looking back at Lowry's rookie season there was a lot of hope and promise for the player and in the playoffs for only four games against Anaheim he was one of the best Jets and took tough minutes. At training camp in September Maurice even tried using Lowry as the C between Ladd and Wheeler in some pre-season games.
Lowry struggled that season, much like the rest of the team, but his struggles were more noticeable due to the season he had previously as a rookie. At one point he was sent to the Moose for more ice time and minutes in hopes of a 'wake up call' or more. He came back a bit renewed but more importantly motivated and aware of his play. The difference as we've seen from him this season since that pivotal moment was that he's learned to keep pushing himself and learn more aspects of the game. That's the kind of evolution the best professionals make, and for Lowry what will his focus of improvement be next?
This same approach to improvement is probably why Kyle Connor needs to take too as he faces a bit of roster change and how he deals with it. From the top line to the fourth line right now should not be seen as a demotion with this team- it's about best filling holes and keeping strengths in tact but Connor certainly is the odd man out this go around. That can change too and even within a game as the young forward could be back with any combination of players tonight if the team needs a shake-up or boost to get through the Avs.
Every game between these two team has been tight and resulted in a 3-2 OT win for the Avalanche but both of those were in Denver- in this case the Jets have the home ice advantage. Hellebuyck gets the start with his head still intact.