Line rushes during the morning skate saw big changes to the lineup that beat Tampa on Thursday night. Bryson and Rosén will make their Jets debut, Brad Lambert was recalled on Friday, and he will play tonight as will Josh Morrissey. Morrissey got hurt in the first game of the Olympics playing for Canada and hasn’t played since.
"For sure. I mean, obviously coming out of the Olympics that's kind of been the focus for me, turning that page to looking forward to coming back and trying to contribute, to help us continue to push to get into the playoffs,” said Morrissey.
“Guys have been playing amazing, scratching and clawing and finding ways to get points and big wins and comebacks. I just want to be able to come back here and help the guys continue to do that.”
The Jets star defenceman was speaking for the first time since coming back from Italy and while he has brought home a silver medal, he touched on the heartbreak of losing to the United States in the gold medal game and not being able to play.
“It’s disappointing, obviously. I worked really hard to get that opportunity and I wanted to be out there helping the guys and obviously, representing your country. So, it was disappointing. We tried to do whatever we could to try to play throughout the tournament and later on in the tournament and obviously, just wasn’t able to do it,” said Morrissey.
“But it was still a great experience, and it was something that I take a tremendous honour and pride in and just so proud of the guys for the effort they put in for the entire tournament and representing our country incredibly well. On an individual level, though, it was obviously disappointing and, like all Canadians, it was tough with the final result as well. As I said, I was proud of the way the guys competed throughout the entire event.”
On the other side of things, Connor Hellebuyck was named goaltender of the tournament and he and Kyle Connor won gold ending the United States gold medal drought at 46 years.
Yeah, it's been crazy. It's been a crazy week. We've been getting some points, winning some games, so it's been fun,” said Hellebuyck.
“Looking back, it's created a lot of memories, created a lot of bonds and a lot of memories. And just very proud of what we did.”
Hellebuyck also was asked about the controversial moment in the American’s dressing room where President Trump called them following their 2-1 overtime win over Canada.
“We were close with the girls’ team. We had a blast with them. We celebrated hard with them. No one was more proud of them than us,” said Hellebuyck.
“If that's not enough for everyone to be happy, then I don't know what is. I don't know how many of those people have been watching their games or even tuned into their gold medal. But we were there.”
The Jets have posted a 8-2-0 record in the last 10 games against Vancouver and a 4-1-0 record in the last five. Winnipeg has taken the last five matchups against Vancouver at Canada Life Centre, outscoring the Canucks by a total of 24-10.
Puck drop is scheduled for 6 CT.
