Game 50: Winnipeg Jets vs Pittsburgh Penguins pregame score

The Jets had practice scheduled for Friday, but the coaching staff opted to give the players a day off the ice. In addition, they did not send anyone to cancel and did not recall Ville Heinola played in Grand Rapids last night for the Moose. I thought, together Brenden Dillon if they're unavailable for two more games, they might consider calling up a defenseman from Manitoba, but with 23 players on the roster, they're going to have to waive someone.

This is a Jets team mired in a five-game slide (0-4-1) and with most Central teams losing as well, this team needs to snap out of that slump immediately. They face a Penguins team that played in St. Paul last night (and lost 3-2) and they're hot on the heels of a playoff spot in the East, but they're on the outside looking in, making this an important game for them.

One of the biggest question marks is whether we'll see a return to the lines of how they started Thursday against the Flyers, or will they bring a new look?

Morning skating:

Mitchell Clinton says it's an interesting change to the top six, and he confirms it Connor Hellebuyck starts tonight.

Jets designed lines and D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Ehlers
Perfetti-Monahan-Vilardi
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Namestnikov-Yafallo

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Coach media:

Tips:

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Topics:

1) Patience
2) Breakout/Slow Start Games (1:20)
3) Hope to see high tempo with Ehlers (2:34)
4) What does he see in the second line? (3:26)
5) Making a change to the second power play (4:10)
6) What made Tuesday's pens different? (5:00 a.m.)
7) Message to D? (5:58)

Next:

Puck drop is at 6:00 PM CST. After the game, visit illegalcurve.com to relive the action. You can also join us for the Illegal Curve post-game show. (Be sure to hit the like/subscribe button).