WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Jets opened the season with a dramatic comeback victory, but it came with a price as forward Bryan Little is expected to be out for an extended period of time after he suffered a lower body injury.
“Bryan’s out indefinitely,” said head coach Paul Maurice. “It’ll be a longer term injury. We’ll have a better idea how long in a couple weeks.”
Little hasn’t had much luck staying healthy the last year. He missed the final 25 games of the regular season after he suffered a fractured vertebrae on Feb. 18.
Maurice was forced to juggle his lines after Little’s first period injury. Even winger Blake Wheeler was forced to play in the middle in last night’s third period. And the loss of Little will leave a big hole in the Jets lineup.
“You can play just about any kind of different winger with him and put him in either role,” Maurice said. “You could put with defensive guys and he can play against the other team’s best or some offensive guys and continue to do that. He’s our most experienced centre ice man, strongest right handed draw man and powerplay and penalty kill. So there isn’t a piece of our game we won’t miss him in.”
RELATED: Patrik Laine spurs comeback win for Winnipeg Jets in home opener
Maurice said the team will discuss who they’ll call up from the Manitoba Moose in Little’s absence. You would have to think Andrew Copp would be near the top of the list. Copp was one of the club’s final cuts after playing his entire rookie season in the NHL. But for now it appears Alex Burmistrov will fill the void as their new third line centre after being a healthy scratch in their home opener.
“We’ve enjoyed the defensive parts of his game,” said Maurice. “He kills penalties for us. We can use experience on our PK units but he has confidence in his offensive game and we’ll have people with him that can help him with that.”
Burmistrov and the rest of the Jets will be looking to make it two straight wins on Saturday in Minnesota against the always defensive minded Wild.
“They won’t give up much,” said Drew Stafford. “Clog up the neutral zone, play a tight defensive game, so we got to make sure we take care of the puck.”
The National Hockey League also revealed on Friday that the Jets were just the third team in league history to win their opening game of the season by overcoming a three goal deficit in the third period.
Comments