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‘On fire’ Perreault won’t play for Jets; Kane takes his spot

Winnipeg Jets vs Edmonton Oilers

Winnipeg Jets vs Edmonton Oilers

AP

Considering all the talk about a Dan Carcillo cross-check breaking his arm, it’s not a surprise that red-hot Winnipeg Jets forward Mathieu Perreault is out on Sunday and won’t play until at least after the All-Star break.

(The team is only labeling it an upper-body injury at this point. As usual with NHL injuries, it may be some time before we know the extent of his issues. It might not be a break after all, however.)

That doesn’t change the fact that it stings, though, as Blake Wheeler notes to the Winnipeg Sun’s Ken Wiebe.

“It hurts,” Wheeler said. “He’s a guy that is the definition of on-fire right now. He’s played awesome for us.”

Indeed, that’s a tough loss with how legitimate Winnipeg has been looking lately.

On the bright side, Evander Kane has been on a nice run of his own, and he looks to slide into Perreault’s spot alongside Mark Scheifele and Michael Frolik.

Still, there’s only so much you can sugarcoat losing a player who scored nine points in five games before being injured on Friday, especially if Kane struggles to find chemistry alongside linemates who may be better on paper.

That’s a bummer, but the league’s contenders learn to roll with injury punches. If the Jets want to gain that distinction, they’ll have to do it too ... starting with tonight’s game against the struggling Arizona Coyotes.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins