Game #20 Preview and GDT: Winnipeg Jets at Boston Bruins

Two teams looking to bounceback from a loss clash tonight, as Brandon Carlo's Boston Bruins host the Winnipeg Jets (9-8-2).

After flying pretty high since their Nov. 8 win over the Dallas Stars, Winnipeg (9-8-2) will look to get right back on track after a 5-2 Thursday stumble against Philadelphia. Having seemingly seizing the number one job, Hellebuyck's .810 Sv% performance was disappointing, but off-nights will happen. The 23-year-old will have his chance for redemption tomorrow versus Carolina, as tonight is the Michael Hutchinson show.

For those wondering the goalies numbers vs BOS:
Hutch: .828% and 0-2 record
Hellebuyck: .953% and 2-0-1 record

— Chris Curry (@ProducerChrisMB) November 19, 2016

While the end result was a loss, Winnipeg didn't play a bad game against the Flyers. Furthermore, Nikolaj Ehlers has 13 points over his last eight games, Marko Dano is fitting right in on the top-six, Patrik Laine leads the league in goals and Mark Scheifele is tied for the lead in points. The season's still going pretty well, all things considered.

It feels odd to call anything Dustin Byfuglien does as quiet, but with all of Winnipeg's forward firepower, Buff and his 10 points have flown somewhat under-the-radar.

Yep, quiet as a mouse.

Despite Dominic Moore's best efforts, the Boston Bruins are off to a significant improvement over last year's 5v5 Corsi numbers. Key to this has been one of hockey's best lines in Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak. Not only have all three been puck possession stars, but the trio has also combined for 17 goals and 34 points. Now the bad news: 1) Bergeron accounts for just four of those points; and 2) 10-goal scorer Pastrnak is set to miss his second straight game with an upper-body-injury. Taking Pastrnak's place on the first line is Riley Nash, a versatile 27-year-old who does everything decently well. Long-term, Nash is a bottom-six mainstay, but he should be perfectly adequate so far as spot duty goes. (Of course, Boston fell 1-0 against Minnesota on Thursday, so perhaps not.)

245 NHL forwards have played 150+ minutes. The leaders in Corsi For %:
1. 61.7% Bergeron
2. 61.5% Marchand
3. 61.0% Pastrnak

— Bruins Stats (@bruins_stats) November 15, 2016

With all due respect to Michael Hutchinson, Boston is the clear favourite between the pipes tonight. With a 10-2-0 record and .947 Sv%, Tuukka Rask has been an absolute beast to begin 2016-17. Put another way, the Bruins (10-7-0) haven't won a game without Tuukka Rask. Even with one of the best lines in hockey and Rask playing like a Vezina contender, Boston finds itself among the Ottawa's, Columbus' and Philadelphia's of the world. Should they remain a middle-of-the-pack, playoff bubble team, it'll be interesting to see if the Bruins lean towards buying, selling, or standing pat. Completely unrelated: Zdeno Chara will be 40 in March.