Jets at Panthers preview
Quenneville eyes 900th win as NHL coach; Winnipeg seeks fifth victory in seven games
by Alain Poupart / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
JETS (10-8-1) at PANTHERS (9-4-5)
7 p.m. ET; FS-F, TSN3, NHL.TV
The Game
Joel Quenneville can become the second coach in NHL history to reach 900 wins when the Florida Panthers host the Winnipeg Jets at BB&T Center on Thursday.
Quenneville, in his first season with the Panthers, has an NHL record of 899-536-142 with 77 ties, trailing Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman (1,244 wins).
Florida eyes its third consecutive win and fifth in seven games (4-1-1). The Panthers are coming off a 5-4 shootout victory at the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, when they came back to win after being four goals down for the first time in their history.
The Jets are 4-1-1 in their past six games after going 2-5-0 in their previous seven games.
Players to watch
Jets forward Patrik Laine, who needs one point to reach 200 in the NHL, has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in six games against the Panthers.
Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau, who has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in a six-game point streak, is one assist shy of passing Stephen Weiss (249) for most in team history.
They said it
"I could probably name four or five teams in the NHL that I would say that if they had a 4-0 lead on you that you weren't coming back; Boston would be very close to the top of that list. It's a pretty skilled group that can come back from that." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice on the Panthers
"We've got some home games now. We want to make sure that we take care of business. We finished that trip in a real good fashion." -- Panthers coach Joel Quenneville on Florida playing 14 of its next 16 games at home
Jets projected lineup
Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Patrik Laine
Nikolaj Ehlers -- Blake Wheeler -- Jack Roslovic
Andrew Copp -- Adam Lowry -- Mathieu Perreault
Joona Luoto -- David Gustafsson -- Logan Shaw
Josh Morrissey -- Tucker Poolman
Dmitry Kulikov -- Neal Pionk
Nathan Beaulieu -- Luca Sbisa
Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit
Scratched: Carl Dahlstrom, Anthony Bitetto, Michael Spacek
Injured: Bryan Little (perforated eardrum, vertigo), Gabriel Bourque (lower body), Mark Letestu (heart muscle inflammation), Mason Appleton (foot)
Suspended: Dustin Byfuglien
Panthers projected lineup
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Evgenii Dadonov
Brian Boyle - Vincent Trocheck -- Brett Connolly
Frank Vatrano -- Denis Malgin - Mike Hoffman
Dryden Hunt -- Noel Acciari -- Colton Sceviour
Mark Pysyk -- Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson -- Anton Stralman
Keith Yandle -- Josh Brown
Sergei Bobrovsky
Sam Montembeault
Scratched: None
Injured: Jayce Hawryluk (upper body), MacKenzie Weegar (upper body)
Status report
The Jets did not hold a morning skate. … Spacek, a forward, was recalled from Manitoba of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. … Trocheck and Boyle each will take face-offs after being put together on a line with Connolly. … Weegar likely will be out another week, Quenneville said.
Stat pack
Winnipeg has outshot its past five opponents and seven of its past eight. … The Jets are the least-penalized team in the NHL (4:34 per game). … Barkov has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in a six-game point streak. … Yandle has nine points (one goal, eight assists) in his past seven games.