The Winnipeg Jets (3-1-0) have returned to Manitoba after a successful two game road trip to the East Coast and are now preparing for their second Central Division clash of the season when the Nashville Predators (2-1-2) visit the city on Saturday evening (6 pm Central start).
The team from Canada’s Windy City received a bit of good news when captain Adam Lowry shed the no-contact jersey in practice and appears ever-so-close to making his 2025-26 debut….but probably not today. Unfortunately, the other two injured skaters don’t seem as close to a return since Cole Perfetti hasn’t even started skating after his ankle injury and while Dylan Samberg has been lacing up the skates for a while now, one of his wrists is still in a cast.
The Predators haven’t escaped the injury bug entirely, though they are in much better health than the Jets. Nashville continues to have troubles with their free agent signings after last year’s key signings, Steven Stamkos & Jonathan Marchessault, struggled offensively. This time, newly inked defenseman Nicholas Hague sustained an injury before the regular season even kicked off, robbing his new club of his services in early October.
Winnipeg is coming in on a 3 game winning streak, while Nashville has dropped their last 2 contests before the two rivals square off at the Canada Life Centre. The Predators leading scorer so far has been Eric Haula with a pair of goals & assists (4 pts), while the Jets’ fans have witnessed top center Mark Scheifele explode for 5 goals & 3 assists (8 pts) in just 4 matches.
Okay….time for the team comparison stats from ESPN and the projected line ups from PuckPedia:
MATCH UP STATS
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WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP
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NASHVILLE PREDATORS LINE UP
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Winnipeg Jets’ head coach Scott Arniel is taking the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach as yesterday’s practice saw the same line combinations as they iced against the Philadelphia Flyers. With the captain on the mend, time might be limited for the rookies to make an impression on the coaching staff so I am a bit disappointed that Nikita Chibrikov wasn’t given another shot…though I am a fan of Parker Ford’s grinder with a touch of hands playing style. The Nashville Predators have no former Jets in their lineup tonight, though they do have Morgan Barron’s brother Justin.
Go Winnipeg!!!!!
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POST-GAME INFO
**the information below will be added a few hours after the game ends, so check back later this evening to look over the numbers.**
Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)
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Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)
Expected Goals (all): NSH 4.69 WPG 3.42
Expected Goals (5on5): NSH 3.56 WPG 2.56
**the coaching staff shuffled the lines, with only the 1st & 4th units staying together for the entire game (12 & 8 mins respectively). The remaining four lines got between 3.5 to 6 mins of 5 on 5 ice-time.**
**once again, the Jets’ defense was not very good beyond the top pairing of Morrissey-DeMelo. Get well soon Samberg.**
**by far, Hellebuyck’s best performance of the season bumping his Goals Saved Above Expected up to a +4.4 for the season, good for a tie for 7th best in the NHL.**
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Well, the Winnipeg Jets picked up their 4th victory in a row and the scoreboard made it feel like the game against Nashville was never really in question. However, the stats show that once again our club was out-performed in the expected goals/shot stats and are relying on a league leading 17.95 shooting percent. To give you an idea of how much that figure is inflated beyond the norm, the True Northers had a 11.87% rating in their President’s Trophy winning campaign. In other words, the way the Jets are picking up victories now is not really sustainable. The good news is that Adam Lowry is nearing a return, which should help some and I will withhold any real panic until Winnipeg is icing a completely healthy roster and still being out-played. Connor Hellebuyck was the star of the game, but Vladislav Namestnikov, Jonathan Toews, and Nino Niederreiter were also impressive against the Preds.
Congrats to Mark Scheifele for officially becoming the all-time leading scorer of the Winnipeg Jets 2.0 franchise…..now on to chasing the great Dale Hawerchuk’s record from the first go around.
