Jets at Stars preview

JETS (17-10-1) at STARS (15-11-3)
8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, TSN3, NHL.TV

The forward has 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in 29 games this season but no points in his past four games and two goals in his past nine.
The Stars are on a four-game winless streak (0-3-1) after a seven-game winning streak and 12-game point streak (11-0-1). They are 14-4-2 in their past 20 games after starting the season 1-7-1.
Goalie Connor Hellebuyck is expected to start for Winnipeg after he made 27 saves in a 5-1 against Dallas on Tuesday. The Jets are 9-3-0 in their past 12 games.

Players to watch

Jets forward Patrik Laine has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past four games, including a goal and an assist against the Stars on Tuesday.
Stars goaltender Ben Bishop is 6-1-1 with a 1.90 goals-against average and .940 save percentage in his past nine starts.

They said it

"I like the back-to-back. It's more fun and your pre-scout changes completely. Instead of just the next team, you plan for what are the adjustments they are going to make to play against your game. You get to feel like you're coaching a little more, it's more like a playoff series because you're trying to anticipate adjustments to their game, and the travel is flat." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice
"It's a chance to respond. The Jets were great and we were awful. It's a division game. We've lost four divisional games in a row. It's time to assert ourselves and get back in the picture here." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery

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
Luca Sbisa -- Neal Pionk
Anthony Bitetto -- Nathan Beaulieu
Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit
Scratched: Carl Dahlstrom, Cameron Schilling, Nicholas Shore
Injured:Dmitry Kulikov (upper body), Mason Appleton (foot), Gabriel Bourque (lower body), Bryan Little (ear), Dustin Byfuglien (ankle)

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Justin Dowling -- Tyler Seguin
Mattias Janmark -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski
Andrew Cogliano -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau
Denis Gurianov -- Jason Dickinson -- Corey Perry
Esa Lindell -- Miro Heiskanen
Andrej Sekera -- John Klingberg
Jamie Oleksiak -- Roman Polak
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched:Alexander Radulov, Taylor Fedun
Injured: Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)

Status report

Beaulieu will return to the lineup after missing the past four games with an upper-body injury. … Montgomery said he let Radulov know in advance he would be scratched and that it was "what we think is best for the Dallas Stars."

Stat pack

Laine has 24 points (18 goals, six assists) in 16 games against the Stars. … Winnipeg is 10-5-0 on the road this season. ... Faksa has five goals in his past five games against the Jets.