Time: 7:00 PM CST
Channel: TSN3, FS-MW
Radio: TSN1290
The Winnipeg Jets (32-13-9) will have a familiar face back in the line-up on Friday night when they take on the St. Louis Blues (33-20-3) at Bell MTS Place.
Mark Scheifele returns to his top-line centre spot for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury on December 27. Blake Wheeler took over his spot as top line centre, and had 16 points in the 16 games Scheifele missed. Wheeler will now slide back to his old, familiar right wing spot, while Patrik Laine occupies the left wing.
Jack Roslovic gets bumped down to a fourth line that features Marko Dano and Nic Petan (PETANO!), and it will be interesting to see how the AHL linemates and Dano can do.
The Jets suffered another injury, and it actually occurred in practice before Tuesday’s win over Arizona, as Michael Hutchinson joins Steve Mason as Jets netminders nursing concussions. With the injury, Eric Comrie has been called up to back-up Connor Hellebuyck.
St. Louis has fallen a few points behind of the leaders of the Central Division, but are still within striking distance. The Dallas Stars are nipping at their heels for the third and final playoff spot in the Central Division. I expect Central teams to take both of the wildcard spots, but that’s beside the point.
The Blues whallopped the Avalanche 6-1 last night, as Carter Hutton continues to play well in net. The Blues lost Joel Edmundson to a broken forearm, which will keep him out of the line-up for a while. He is the Blues only injured player who has played games this season, as their other two players on the shelf (Robby Fabbri and Zach Sanford) were injured in pre-season.
Brayden Schenn leads the team in goals, assists and points (math, duh). The off-season acquisition from the Flyers is on pace for a career year (his career best points total is 59), and has to be more than the Blues expected when they gave up Jori Lehtera and the 27th overall pick in this past draft (Morgan Frost).
This is the third game between these two teams this year, with a fourth scheduled to take place in St. Louis on the 23rd. The home team has won via shutout each time, with the Blues winning 2-0 on December 16 and the Jets prevailing 4-0 the very next day.
Will St. Louis sing the Blues?
Will the Jets fly too close to the sun and, like Icarus, fall flaming into the sea?
Tune in this evening! Same Jets time (7 PM CST), Same Jets channel (TSN 3)!
Winnipeg Jets: 32-13-9
Stat Leaders:
Goals: Patrik Laine (24)
Assists: Blake Wheeler (44)
Points: Wheeler (58)
Goalie Stat Leaders:
Wins: Connor Hellebuyck (28)
Goals Against Average: Hellebuyck (2.32)
Save Percentage: Hellebuyck (.924)
Minutes: Hellebuyck (2,586)
Special Teams: PP 24.1% (3rd), PK 82.2% (9th)
St. Louis Blues: 33-20-3
Stat Leaders:
Goals: Brayden Schenn (23)
Assists: Schenn (30)
Points: Schenn (53)
Goalie Stat Leaders:
Wins: Jake Allen (18)
Goals Against Average: Carter Hutton (1.70)!!!!!!
Save Percentage: Hutton (.944)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Minutes: Allen (2,138)
Special Teams: PP 16.4% (27th), PK 81.7% (14th)
Winnipeg Jets
FORWARDS
29 Patrik Laine / 55 Mark Scheifele / 26 Blake Wheeler
85 Mathieu Perreault / 18 Bryan Little/ 27 Nikolaj Ehlers
81 Kyle Connor / 9 Andrew Copp/ 40 Joel Armia
56 Marko Dano/ 19 Nic Petan / 52 Jack Roslovic
DEFENCE
44 Josh Morrissey/ 57 Tyler Myers
39 Toby Enstrom/ 33 Dustin Byfuglien
7 Ben Chiarot/ 5 Dmitry Kulikov
STARTING GOALIE
37 Connor Hellebuyck
Riding the pine: 1 Eric Comrie
Scratched: 3 Tucker Poolman, 48 Brendan Lemieux
Injured: 13 Brandon Tanev (week-to-week, upper body), 15 Matt Hendricks (day-to-day, upper body), 17 Adam Lowry (Upper body…again), 34 Michael Hutchinson (Indefinite, concussion suffered Tuesday), 35 Steve Mason (out since January 12, resumed light skating concussion), 16 Shawn Matthias (upper body, out since January 13), 8 Jacob Trouba (Out six to eight weeks from January 29, ankle)
St. Louis Blues
FORWARDS
20 Alex Steen — 26 Paul Stastny — 91 Vladimir Tarasenko
17 Jaden Schwartz — 10 Brayden Schenn — 21 Patrik Berglund
23 Dmitrij Jaskin — 71 Vladimir Sobotka — 32 Tage Thompson
9 Scottie Upshall — 28 Kyle Brodziak — 49 Ivan Barbashev
DEFENCE
4 Carl Gunnarsson — 27 Alex Pietrangelo
19 Jay Bouwmeester — 55 Colton Parayko
29 Vince Dunn — 41 Robert Bortuzzo
STARTING GOALIE
34 Jake Allen
Riding the pine: 40 Carter Hutton (Might start, but he played last night so this is my guess)
Scratched: 22 Chris Thorburn ( 🙁 ), 25 Chris Butler, 46 Jake Walman
Injured: 15 Robby Fabbri (Out since September, torn ACL), 12 Zach Sanford (Out since September, dislocated shoulder), 6 Joel Edmundson (Out since yesterday, broken forearm)
