GAME PREVIEW: JETS LOOK TO TURN CAPITALS INTO lower case letters

If arby is allowed lame titles then SO AM I!

Meeting number 3 between bitter division rivals takes place in Winnipeg, as Washington comes to town for the second time this season. The first was a 4-1 win for the Jets, while the Caps returned the favor with a 4-3 win in OT in D.C.

The Jets are coming off a 2-1 win Tuesday night against the league leading Minnesota Wild, while the Capitals are coming off a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Flyers.

The Jets have been dominant on home ice as of late, winning 8 of 9 in the Phone Booth. It is a loud, raucous place where good teams go to die. I love it. I don't care if you live in New York, or Germany, or California, or Wisconsin or...Winnipeg. You need to find a way to experience this first hand. The game against Boston, and this last game against Minnesota featured noise of epic proportions when Little scored the winner. Twice.

Sorry, I got all caught up in the moment...where was I...oh yeah: the Washington Capitals.

3 reasons not to like the Capitals:

1. TJCAPS cheers for them over the local team
2. They are division rivals. Grrr.
3. See number 1

Keys to the Game, Player numbers and Lineups after THE JUMP

Keys to the Game

• Now that's more like it. once again, if the jets can avoid stupid penalties and phantom calls I think that they can more than hold their own against the Caps.
• I thought the powerplay scored last game, but allegedly the penalty had ended. But they looked better than usual with Hainsey on the point.
• And people were concerned about Pavelec....pfft. He keeps pulling out saves like the one he did near the end of the game and the Jets will win games they shouldn't.
• Eric Fehr came back from injury...kind of. Only played a little over 6 minutes and got demoted from the 2nd line to the 4th fairly early on. On the flip side, Tim Stapleton got promoted from the 4th to play alongside Ladd and Wellwood on the second. Depending on injuries that might happen again tonight.
• The Wheeler's K9 Blitz was a combined +6 last game and has been dynamic together offensively. All 3 have such speed and skill on the puck that it makes you wonder why people keeping saying Ladd's line in number 1. NOT ON HERE IT ISN'T!
• I'll keep my eyes and ears open to see if Antti Miettinen, aka Mittens, slots in tonight. Same goes for whether or not Nik Antropov and Alexander Burmistrov can play. And there's always the impending return of Tobias Enstrom to worry about...

Jets (GP 30 14-12-4 32 PTS)

Forwards

#9 Evander Kane -- #18 Bryan Little -- #26 Blake Wheeler

#16 Andrew Ladd -- #13 Kyle Wellwood -- #17 Eric Fehr

#15 Tanner Glass -- #19 Jim Slater -- #22 Chris Thorburn

#41 Jason Jaffray -- #14 Tim Stapleton -- #48 Carl Klingberg

Defencemen

#29 Johnny Oduya -- #39 Dustin Byfuglien

#5 Mark Stuart -- #4 Zach Bogosian

#6 Ron Hainsey -- #36 Mark Flood

Goaltender

#31 Ondrej Pavelec

This is likely to change. The only reason I posted it in the first place is for continuity. i have no faith that these lines will remain this way. Now you know.

Jason Jaffray has been waived to make room for Mittens. He would join Arturs Kulda as recent send downs for the IceCaps. Randy Jones "pulled up lame" in warmup on Tuesday and did not play. I'll dig into that, and see whether or not Mark Flood keeps getting more ice time. Methinks he should, because he's been playing to well to be a healthy scratch.

CAPS (GP 29, 15-13-1 31 PTS)

Forwards

#8 Alex Ovechkin -- #19 Nicklas Backstrom -- #28 Alexander Semin

#20 Troy Brouwer -- #90 Marcus Johansson -- #15 Jeff Halpern

#25 Jason Chimera -- #21 Brooks Laich -- #42 Joel Ward

#50 Cody Eakin -- #85 Mathieu Perreault -- #22 Mike Knuble

Defencemen

#81 Dmitri Orlov -- #44 Roman Hamrlik

#4 John Erskine -- #6 Dennis Wideman

#74 John Carlson -- #27 Karl Alzner

Goaltender

#30 Michal Neuvirth

UPDATE: Neuvirth gets the call over Tomas Vokoun.

Vokoun got pulled for Michal Neuvirth on Wednesday, but I still expect him to get the start tonight.

Player to boo without mercy: People will boo Ovie, if I was going I'd boo Semin. I have nothing against Ovechkin.

Prediction: Winnipeg 5-2 Washington. I just have a feeling that we get the bounces tonight. In abundance.

This may or may not be my official guess for the ARCTIC ICE HOCKEY HOLIDAY JETS CONTEST which kicks off tonight, so you need to get your picks and proof of donation in to Gabe before puck drop tonight.

GO JETS GO!