Well, the Tuesday evening will give us Winnipeg Jets’ fans the chance to see if our hockey teams’ futility will extend into a double digit game losing streak. And the NHL schedule isn’t making it easy on the Manitoban franchise since they’ve sent the Vegas Golden Knights to our city for the last contest in the first half of the regular season.
Despite being in a tie for 13th place in the NHL with a 17-11-12 record, Vegas has been going through some struggles of their own. They haven’t picked up a win in their last 5 outings, part of a 1-5-3 streak for the top team in the Pacific Division. Winnipeg on the other hand is in last place with a miserable 15-21-4 record through 40 games, leaving only the Vancouver Canucks within 5 points of the defending President’s Trophy winning franchise.
Goal scoring has been an issue for both clubs, with the Knights tied for 20th in the league with 124 red lights lit and the Jets in 27th with 115 goals. Defensively through 40 matches, tonight’s teams have both allowed 126 goals against, which has them in a tie for 13th in the NHL.
Tonight’s game at the Canada Life Centre will kick off at 7 pm Central and here is how the two clubs’ year-to-date stats compare, via ESPN‘s team & goaltender comparison numbers:
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Other than goaltending, the Golden Knights have the advantage over the True Northers in the above graphics. The special teams might be where Vegas has the greatest edge, as both units have been struggling for Winnipeg lately. Not that much of anything has been going right for the hometown team this year.
The Jets did have new lines in yesterday’s practice, so we will assume those are the ones that they will be using tonight. Here is how PuckPedia is currently predicting the players to line up:
WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP
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VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS LINE UP
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The changes for Winnipeg are nothing dramatic, with Gustav Nyquist returning to the line up in place of Cole Koepke and the usual swapping of RDs with Colin Miller heading to the press box to take Luke Schenn’s spot for the previous 2 contests.
Due to being stuck in bed sleeping for 23 hours a day, I missed the last Jets’ game, as well as the finish to the World Juniors Championship. I do have the gold medal game recorded, so am planning on eventually watching Winnipeg prospects Alfons Freij & Sascha Boumedienne help Sweden to finish on top of the tourney. The most recent 1st round draft pick by the Jets also happened to score the game winning goal, as Czechia almost came back to force extra time, scoring a pair of goals with their tender on the bench. Congrats to Team Sweden!! Maybe Winnipeg will get the chance to draft Ivar Stenberg is the upcoming draft to add another Scandinavian to their prospect pool?
Go Winnipeg Jets!!!!!
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POST-GAME INFO
Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)
FINAL SCORE: Vegas Golden Knights 4 Winnipeg Jets 3 (OT)
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Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)
Expected Goals (all): VEG 3.39 WPG 2.11
Expected Goals (5on5): VEG 1.87 WPG 0.78
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BOJA’S Post-Game Thoughts:
The losing streak extends to 10 games after the Winnipeg Jets failed to protect another 2 goal lead. The True Northers did a great job of shutting down Vegas’ offense for the first 2 periods, but the final frame saw the visiting club take control of the game.
Next up is the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday……..can the boys finally pick up a win??
