The Winnipeg Jets, with nothing to lose, beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 on Tuesday night.
The final stop on the final road trip of the season brings the Jets to Columbus, where they’ll take on the league surprising Blue Jackets. The Jackets lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 last night.
The Jackets have been quite the Cinderella story this NHL season, and the Jets will soon be practicing their golf swings, so both stories segway nicely into the following clip from Caddyshack…
Who: Winnipeg Jets (37-35-7) vs Columbus Blue Jackets (49-22-8)
When: 6:00 pm CST
Where: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
How: TSN3, TSN1290, FS-O, 97.1 FM
Projected Lineups:
Winnipeg Jets:
Ehlers – Scheifele – Wheeler
Perreault- Little- Laine
Copp – Lowry – Armia
*Tanev – Petan – Thorburn
Melchori – Byfuglien
Morrissey – Trouba
Stuart – Nogier
Comrie
Hellebuyck
*Eric Comrie was called up from the Manitoba Moose yesterday, and is the confirmed starter for this game.
*Jack Roslovic will also be in the starting lineup, his first NHL game, in his home state in front of friends and family. Roslovic has certainly earned it. Not sure of who will be pulled to make room for Roslovic (my suspicion is it will be Tanev).
*Kyle Connor & Marko Dano was a healthy scratches the last game. Connor is confirmed to be in the lineup vs the Predators on Saturday to close out the season.
*Tyler Myers, Ben Chariot and Micheal Hutchinson are on the trip.
*Toby Enstrom, Ondrej Pavelec, Paul Postma and Shawn Matthias are all done for the season following their surgeries.
Columbus Blue Jackets:
Foligno – Dubinsky – Atkinson
Saad – Wennberg – Bjorkstrand
Milano – Jenner – Anderson
Hartnell – Karlsson – Gagner
Harrington – Jaones
Johnson – Quincey
Nutivaara – Savard
Bobrovsky
Korpisalo
3 Questions:
- Can Hellebuyck play to the ability that matches the team’s confidence in him? Dunno. Comrie has certainly earned a call up, but to get the start over Hellebuyck is a bit surprising. Hutchinson hasn’t been a slouch lately either.
- Can the Winnipeg Jets manage to stay out of the penalty box? No.
- Will the thought of having 4 60 point players next year solidify our playoff faith in the team? I hope so, as the potential exists for 5 60 point players next season if Little manages to play a full 82 games (Little has 41 points over 56 games this season). The defense will be better and the goal tending will be pushed too.
Players to watch:
Winnipeg Jets: Roslovic and Comrie naturally.
Columbus Blue Jackets: Bob the Goalie.
Player worthy of your distaste: Hartnell. Just because.
Prediction: Jets win 3-2