After a two game Pennsylvania road trip that saw defeats at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers, the Winnipeg Jets return to home soil to face off against their divisional foes, the Dallas Stars. The Stars come to town holding on to their playoff hopes by a thread. Looking for two points in hopes of adding few extra breaths to their playoff lives.
Puck drop is slated for 6pm and you can catch all of tonights contest on City TV or on TSN 1290 radio.
Some Thoughts
Winnipeg Jets
Welcome back TJ Galiardi! After clearing waivers and en route to the AHL, the Jets recalled TJ Galiardi. The transaction was made on the back of news that forward Matt Halischuk had been placed on the IR. Losing Halischuk should re-enforce to Jets management that upgrades are required on the Jets bottom six.
Watch Out Behind You. The Jets should not get too comfortable while they occupy the top Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Team’s such as the Calgary Flames and the Los Angeles Kings are starting to creep up to the Jets in the standings. When the Jets have an opportunity, such as tonight’s game, to gain leverage in the wild card standings and the divisional standings, they must capitalize.
Dallas Stars
Defence wins Championships. The Dallas Stars posses one of the NHL’s most elite offensive duos in Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. Seguin is third in the NHL in points with 53, while Benn is 17th in the league with 44 points. It’s not just the dynamic duo that has produced offence for the Stars. The team as a whole has put the puck in the net quite frequently and effectively. The Stars score the fourth most goals per game ( 3.06). All things seem to be going well on offence. Despite this the Stars find themselves far away from a playoff spot. The reason for this is that they have been having trouble keeping the puck out of there own net. The Stars allow the third most goals against per game with 3.25. The team also allows the sixth most shots per game at 30.8 per game. To top it off, goaltender Kari Lethonen has also struggled this year. You can’t make the playoffs if you cant keep the puck out of your own net.
By The Numbers
22-19-7 record
51 points
11th in the Western Conference
6th in the Central Division
4th most goals per game (3.06)
28th goals allowed per game ( 3.25)
25th ranked Power Play ( 16.0%)
24th ranked Penalty Kill ( 79.0%)
9th most shots per game ( 31.0)
6th most shots allowed per game ( 30.8)
12th best face off percentage (51.3%)
Player to boo mercilessly
Tyler Seguin – Not only is he good at hockey, he also likes to sleep in late when he comes to Winnipeg. So Boo him loud to wake him up.
Prediction
Jets 5
Stars 3
