The Winnipeg Jets have announced that defenseman Dustin Byfuglien will return to the lineup Tuesday evening when they host the Flyers at the MTS Centre.
Byfuglien, 27, has missed the last five games with a lower-body injury. He’ll replace Grant Clitsome in the Jets lineup and pair with usual defense partner Tobias Enstrom.
It’ll be interesting to see how much ice time Byfuglien gets in his first game back. He was averaging close to 27 minutes per game prior to the injury and, in his absence, Jets head coach Claude Noel has spread the ice time out evenly, giving the likes of Zach Redmond and Paul Postma expanded roles (Postma on the power play especially.)
In other news, the Jets will give backup goalie Al Montoya his second straight start after shutting out Ottawa 1-0 on Saturday.
Montoya turned aside 33 shots against the Senators and was named the game’s first star -- he’s now 2-0 on the season and could be in line for some extended playing time, given starter Ondrej Pavelec is battling both the flu and consistency issues.