The Winnipeg Jets (22-24-4) win two, and there was alot of high hopes that the team could make it three in a row, but hit a bit of a wall when it comes to the Anaheim Ducks, and lost 3 to 2 in a hard fought battle. The Jets kept the game simple, and matched the Ducks through out. Ondrej Pavelec turned aside 24 out of 27 shots, and let one past that I know he wishes he could have back. The Jets also gave up a short handed goal to the Ducks early in the first. Penalty trouble seemed to sneak back into the fold, as the Jets were forced to burn off several Ducks' power plays. The loss to the Ducks comes at the expense of Mathieu Perreault, who took a slash from Anaheim's Corey Perry, and is out for the immediate with a UBI. Already without Drew Stafford, who is day to day with a LBI, other players stepped up and contributed immensely. Nic Petan and Andrew Copp in particular. Moving forward, the team needs to put this behind them and get ready for another formidable foe in the San Jose Sharks. Patrik Laine is expected to be back in the lineup, after missing several games due to a concussion, so his scoring presence is a welcome sight.
The San Jose Sharks on the other hand are coming off a 5-2 win against the struggling Colorado Avalanche last night in Denver. Shark's Patrick Marleau is suddenly hot, and had 4 goals in the game, all in the third period.
3 Questions:
1. What are the odds the Jets make the playoffs today? Hmmm, let's look at this for a second.
Last night's loss dropped the Jets down 3.7% giving them a 14.9% chance of making the playoffs. If the Jets basically play .500% hockey between now and end of the regular season, the team has a 0.2 % chance of making the playoffs. To guarantee (100%) a playoff spot, the Winnipeg Jets would need to go 22-6-4 over the remaining 32 games, giving them 96 points on the season.
2. 2 out of 3 ain't bad, right? Well, lets take a look. In theory, if the Jets continue on the current path of win 2 and lose 1, this brings us to 21 wins, 11 losses for 42 additional points (overtime points not considered) on the remaining 32 games. The Jets currently have 48 points. Add on the additional 42 points from the proposed 21 wins, and this gives the Jets 90 points on the season, and in using the above chart, this would result in a 82.6% chance of making the playoffs. That is the median (top being 96 points, bottom being 85 points), and it's that close, folks! There really is no room for error going forward. The Jets have played 50 games and a lot of teams have 2 to 3 games in hand.
3. Ok, now what? If the Jets can get in with 90 points, who would they face?
Again, it's all in theory, but if the playoffs were to start today, and the Jets had 90 points, they would have between a 31% and 35% percent chance of playing the Minnesota Wild in the first playoff round, followed by the Chicago Blackhawks and the San Jose Sharks.
Player to watch:
Winnipeg Jets: Patrik Laine is expected to be back in the lineup, as the Jets need his scoring prowess.
San Jose Sharks: Patrick Marleau, for his recent scoring prowess.
What
When
Where
How
Projected Lineups:
Winnipeg Jets:
Ehlers – Scheifele – Laine
Petan – Little – Wheeler
Matthias – Lowry – Armia
Tanev – Copp – Thorburn
Morrissey – Byfuglien
Enstrom – Trouba
Stuart – Postma
Pavelec
Hellebuyck
San Jose Sharks:
Marleau – Thornton – Pavelski
Lablanc – Couture – Boedker
Donskoi – Tierney – Ward
Meier – Wingels – Karlsson
Martin – Burns
Vlasic – Braun
Dillon – Schlemko
Jones
Dell
Prediction: The Winnipeg Jets will rebound and add to their playoff hopes by defeating the San Jose Sharks 4-2.
