Comments / New

Winnipeg Jets @Tampa Bay Lightning Game Preview: Taking The Tank To Tampa!



Following the Jets’ overtime heroics last night in Carolina, it would seem that they do not wish to obtain a high draft pick as badly as I do. The win puts a dent in the #greatesttankbattle battleplans, as now the Jets sit a few points ahead of teams such as the Hurricanes, Lightning, Wild, Islanders and the Maple Leafs. Which is most unfortunate, although I’m sure Toronto will once again make a bad decision at the draft and draft someone like Ryan Murray, who I am less than convinced “has was it takes”.

The Jets have a perfectly good chance to make up for that unfortunate mishap last night, when they take on their Southeast Division counterparts in the Tampa bay Lightning tonight. With the combination of back to back games, plus this being a road game, the jets have a decent chance of losing. If that lands us a high pick to spend on a scoring centre then I'm all for it.

Expect the goaltenders to be Pavelec and Roloson tonight, as Coach Guy Boucher of the Bolts has said he'd be riding Rolly until Tampa was out, and Pavs should see the net as Iron Mason did the job last night in Raleigh.

The Jets will be without hard hitting, fan favourite Tanner Glass tonight, as the man who fights bears broke his foot in the first period last night before champing it out the rest of the game. So with that in mind, the lineups you see after the jump are pretty much resembling dogs breakfast.

I hope you enjoy them ever so much.

Keys to the Game, Player Numbers, the previously mentioned lineups and a sad Predicition coming up right after THE JUMP

Keys to the Game:

  • Lose? Not that I really expect a great result as this is a road game, and the second half of a back to back (who made this schedule? I don’t remember it being this bad for the Jets last year..oh wait…)
  • Of course the Jets will win, because when in comes to luck I have about as much as a snowball in an oven. But it would help the whole tank battle thing if they lost.
  • Pavelec will start after getting a night off for the first time in 13 starts. It had been forever since Chris Mason had started a game, but he looked solid and hopefully our goalie of the present and future does too tonight…while still losing.
  • If Spencer Machacek somehow found his way onto the second line, I’d be ok with that. Or maybe just got more than 7 minutes. That’d be cool too.
  • Uhmm…I know this will come as a shock to all who read this, but if the Jets want to win they had better ensure that Steven Stamkos doesn’t find the twine.

Lineups

Jets (GP 787 36-34-8 80 PTS)

Forwards

#16 Andrew Ladd — #18 Bryan Little — #26 Blake Wheeler

#9 Evander Kane#8 Alexander Burmistrov#20 Antti Miettinen

#46 Spencer Machacek#19 Jim Slater #22 Chris Thorburn

#14 Tim Stapleton#80 Nik Antropov #13 Kyle Wellwood

Defencemen

#39 Tobias Enstrom — #33 Dustin Byfuglien

#6 Ron Hainsey — #4 Zach Bogosian

#5 Mark Stuart — #24 Grant Clitsome

Goaltender

#31 Ondrej Pavelec

With Tanner Glass done for the year, and Eric Fehr and Chris Thorburn still out of action, I guess that leaves Ben Maxwell to fill the spot in the lineup. And yea, that’s just all Coach canadian texan up there. Who knew losing Glass would throw such a wrench in everything.

Update: Ignore all those words. The lineup has been changed to reflect the word on the street.

Sunset, Florida (GP 77 35-35-7 77 PTS)

Forwards

#16 Teddy Purcell — #91 Steven Stamkos — #26 Martin St. Louis

#49 J.T. Brown — #4 Vincent Lecavalier — #12 Ryan Malone

#34 J.T. Wyman — #24 Trevor Smith — #20 Tim Wallace

#11 Tom Pyatt — #44 Nate Thompson#14 Brett Connolly

Defencemen

#2 Eric Brewer — #77 Victor Hedman

#7 Brett Clark — #15 Brian Lee

#3 Keith Aulie — #29 Brendan Mikkelson

Goaltender

#35 Sebastien Caron

Holy smokes, i can barely make heads or tails of the depth chart of Tampa. Everybody says it’s something different. That damn Bond villain coaching the team sure knows how to show different looks.

Player too boo mercilessly: Stamkos. Because in order to be high sticked the stick has to hit you high.

Prediction: Washinton beats Montreal in regulation, eliminating both teams and thus rendering the 3-2 Tampa Bay win irrelevant…except for #greatesttankbattles!

GO JETS GO!

Looking for an easy way to support Arctic Ice Hockey?
Use our Affiliate Link when shopping hockey merch this holiday season!

Talking Points