The Winnipeg Jets (0-1-0) will be looking for their first win on the season when the Los Angeles Kings (1-1-0) visit the Canada Life Centre on Saturday afternoon. On a day where all 32 National Hockey League franchises are in action, our club will get the opportunity to kick off the day’s first match.
The Jets clearly missed defensive stalwart Dylan Samberg in the opener, as they allowed the Dallas Stars so many scoring chances in the opening match. Despite that fact, coaches Scott Arniel and company are running the same lineup on Saturday. Well, we can hope they get different results this time. At least the hattrick by the newly inked Kyle Connor gave us fans something to cheer about.
The Kings have split their two games this season, dropping their opener in LA to the Colorado Avalanche (4-1) before ruining the Vegas Golden Knights home opener with a 6-5 shootout victory. Without pre-game skates this morning to confirm the projected lines, we will use the one’s PuckPedia had from the franchise’s last game.
WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP
LOS ANGELES KINGS LINE UP
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Once again, the visiting club has a couple familiar faces in their organization, as Los Angeles is now home to former Jets Joel Armia & Jeff Malott.
Yet there is also a strong Kings’ flavour to Winnipeg’s roster as well, with Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Tanner Pearson, & Luke Schenn all donning an LA jersey at some point in their careers. And it doesn’t end at the NHL level, as the Manitoba Moose also have former Kings like Samuel Fagemo, Jaret Anderson-Dolan, & Kyle Clague. Then there is the un-signed Rasmus Kupari too.
When it comes to today’s clash, I am very much hoping the Jets will be able to split the difficult two opening contests (DAL/LA) before they can find more consistent success in seven straight matches against non-playoff clubs from last season (NYI, PHI, NSH, CGY, SEA, CGY, & UTH).
Go Winnipeg!!!!!
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POST-GAME INFO
**the information below will be added after the game ends, so check back later this evening to look over the numbers.**
Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)
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Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)
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Game 2 was definitely a back & forth affair…..with the Winnipeg Jets storming out of the gates only to allow the Los Angeles Kings to dominate long stretches of the remainder of the contest. In the end, top-notch goaltending by Connor Hellebuyck (.938 save %) and a little bit of magic from Mark Scheifele (pair of goals to complete comeback) ended up saving the day for the True North franchise.
Things should get easier for a stretch now, as the Jets have 7 straight games versus clubs that failed to qualify for the post-season last year.
