Preview: Winnipeg Jets @ Minnesota Wild

The Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild square off for the first of five contests this season on Friday afternoon, as they renew hostilities. The Jets beat the Wild four games to one in the quarterfinals of last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Wild will be looking for vengeance.

Despite not doing much to their roster in the off-season, and getting another year older, the Wild are off to a hot start this year, sitting in second in the Central Division. They are once again lead by the hot play of goaltender Devan Dubnyk, as well as the goal scoring of Mikael Granlund and defender Mathew Dumba. Despite being older than time itself, Eric Staal and Zach Parise are also putting up some good stats this year.

The Jets are coming off of a lacklustre performance in Calgary on Wednesday, in which they allowed five goals in the first period. Patrik Laine scored a pair of goals, and now leads the team with 13 on the season, good for a tie for seventh in the league, and putting him on pace for more than 50 on the year.

Neither Connor Hellebuyck nor Laurent Brossoit off the bench put up strong numbers in the loss, though their support from their defenders was poor at best (looking at you, Tyler Myers).

Despite the loss, the Jets are 3-1-1 in their last five, while the Wild are 2-3-0, coming off of a 6-4 win over the gong show that is the Ottawa Senators. Could this be a preview of another playoff series? It’s definitely a possibility.

Enemy Territory

Minnesota Wild Coverage: Hockey Wilderness

Last Jets Game:

Winnipeg Jets 3-6 Calgary Flames

Brandon Tanev scored 15 seconds in, Patrik Laine scored a pair...and the Jets allowed five first period goals.

Last Wild Game:

Minnesota Wild 6-4 Ottawa Senators

The Wild jumped out to a 4-1 lead, only for Ottawa to tie things back up before a pair of late goals won it for Minnesota. Eric Staal and Mathew Dumba each scored twice.

Players to watch:

Winnipeg Jets

I’m not panicking at the disco or anything, but Connor Hellebuyck has not been nearly as good this year as we was in his Vezina award finalist season. He sports a .905 save percentage on the road, and even at home, where he has been dominant, he has a pedestrian save percentage of .912. Time to buck up, Bucky!

Minnesota Wild

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

After scoring 14 goals in 82 games last year, Mathew Dumba already has 10 in the 22 games he’s been in this year. He and the rest of the Minnesota D-Corps have scored 20 goals combined this year, a number significantly higher than the eight goals the Jets defenders have managed. Dumba signed a five year, six-million dollar average annual value contract in the offseason, and is living up to it right now.