Scheifele's back for Jets
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Mark Scheifele is back in the lineup and Blake Wheeler is back on the wing.
The Winnipeg Jets got some good news on the injury front when Scheifele declared himself ready to play against the New York Rangers after missing the past three games with an “upper hamstring injury.” Scheifele, who leads the Jets with 26 points in 26 games this season, will skate on a line with Wheeler and Drew Stafford on Thursday.
“It was something that wasn’t really healing as well as I thought. It’s been a bit of a battle, every day you’re not sure what’s going to happen but I’m happy to feel good today and to be ready to play tonight,” said Scheifele, who sustained the initial injury during the second period of a game last Thursday against the Edmonton Oilers. “It sucked. In St. Louis, I thought I could go and then I couldn’t. The next day (against the Chicago Blackhawks), I thought I could go and I couldn’t. It was kind of an up-in-the-air thing. Every morning, you’re anxious to see how you’re going to feel. It was definitely tough mentally, but today when I got up and went on the ice, I felt fine. As I continued to skate, it got better and better.” The Jets (13-13-3) are coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings which saw them blow a 3-1 lead, so getting Scheifele back should provide a boost.
“(Scheifele) is a big part of what we do obviously. Kind of the same spiel with (Bryan Little),” said Wheeler, who performed well in the middle but is most comfortable at right wing. “(Scheifele) plays in every area for us and he’s obviously been really productive for us this year. We’ve missed him.”
With Scheifele returning to the lineup, Alex Burmistrov will be scratched along with defenceman Mark Stuart and left-winger Kyle Connor, who will be a healthy scratch for a fifth straight game this season.
Connor has one goal and four points in 19 games this season.
The rookie has one assist in his past 10 games and has gone 13 games without a goal but Jets head coach Paul Maurice says Connor is handling things well.
“The injury set him back. He came back in and by flow of the bench, he didn’t get a lot of minutes. That wasn’t a function of him, it was the games we were playing,” said Maurice, referring to games when Connor was limited to 3:03 and 4:39 of ice time before spending the past five games as a healthy scratch. “We’ve been kind of in and out of health. He’s been close to being in the lineup on a bunch of nights and then by a centre going down (with an injury), Mark (Scheifele) coming out affected his ability to get into the lineup. We take a look at it now on a two- or three-day block of what’s best for him and what’s best for the Jets.
“As we get healthier, the set of circumstances we will make decisions on will change.”
How does Maurice view Connor staying with the big club versus going down to the minors and seeing more ice time?
“Well, playing for a young player takes priority for sure, but the Winnipeg Jets need hockey players,” said Maurice. “We’ve had seven guys (out) and (Connor) has played well for us. If it was different positions injured, he would have been in our lineup.
“It’s not career-ending. He’s going to get back in and play. There are other things you will look at going forward. Roster freezes are going to come into play and the fact the Moose have (an 11-day) block off, which is highly unusual. They’ve got a big block of time that if he’s there, he’s not playing and those are things we have to consider as well.”
Michael Hutchinson, who is coming off a victory against the St. Louis Blues and is 3-4-2 with a 3.05 goals against average and .898 save percentage in 11 games starts in goal for the Jets, while the Rangers counter with fellow backup Antti Raanta, who is 5-1 with a 2.20 goals against average and .931 save percentage in eight games this season.
The Rangers, who are 17-9-1, have lost three of their past five games, will be without forwards Rick Nash (groin), Matt Puempel (concussion), Mika Zibanejad (leg), Pavel Buchnevich (back) and Jimmy Vesey, who left Tuesday’s contest with an upper-body injury.
Here’s how both teams are expected to start on Thursday, though the Rangers lineup is a bit unclear since they didn’t skate this morning:
Winnipeg Jets
Forwards
- Drew Stafford-Mark Scheifele-Blake Wheeler
- Nikolaj Ehlers-Bryan Little-Patrik Laine
- Mathieu Perreault-Adam Lowry-Marko Dano
- Brandon Tanev-Andrew Copp-Chris Thorburn
Defence
- Josh Morrissey-Dustin Byfuglien
- Toby Enstrom-Jacob Trouba
- Ben Chiarot-Paul Postma
Goalies
- Michael Hutchinson
- Connor Hellebuyck
New York Rangers
Forwards
- Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello
- JT Miller-Kevin Hayes-Michael Grabner
- Marek Hrivik-Oscar Lindberg-Jesper Fast
- Nicklas Jensen-Josh Jooris-Brandon Pirri
Defence
- Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
- Marc Staal-Nick Holden
- Brady Skjei-Kevin Klein
Goalies
- Antti Raanta
- Henrik Lundqvist
