Since both the Winnipeg Jets & Seattle Kraken lost on Tuesday night, our team remains 5 points back of the NHL’s Western Conference’s final wildcard spot…though the Los Angeles Kings have now joined the Kraken at 67 points, while the San Jose Sharks & Nashville Predators are just a single point back of that. So while the True Northers have closed the gap to a potential playoff berth…..they have yet to pass any of the clubs in their way.
The Jets’ points streak came to an abrupt end, with a horrible performance against the Anaheim Ducks, so the coaching staff will be looking for a much better effort tonight. In the middle of a long homestand, the Canada Life Centre will host the visiting New York Rangers on Thursday evening, setting up a clash between two of the league’s worst franchises.
Winnipeg (26-27-10) will be entering action on a 1 game losing streak and holding onto the 27th best record in the NHL (62 pts). The Jets have scored 179 goals (tied 24th) and allowed 193 against (tied 11th), while putting up a 47.66% Expected Goals rating at 5 on 5 (-3 goal differential).
New York (26-30-8) have won two in a row, as they outscored the Calgary Flames & Philadelphia Flyers 10 to 2 in those contests. With the league’s 29th best record (60 pts) thanks to 179 Goals For (tied 24th) and 200 Goals Against (tied 16th), the Rangers are putting up a 48.73% Expected Goals rating at 5 on 5 (-6 goal differential).
Here is how the two clubs’ year-to-date stats compare, via ESPN‘s team & goaltender comparison numbers:
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The morning skates are probably just getting underway, so here are the line up projections for both clubs via PuckPedia based on the most recent games:
WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP
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NEW YORK RANGERS LINE UP
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Potentially a big game when it comes to the outcome of the Lottery Draft in June, as a New York victory could tie the clubs in the standings. Oddly, the Rangers have only won 9 games in NYC this season (9-15-6), so they have been a much better team on the road (17-15-2). Winnipeg has been slightly better in Manitoba this year (15-12-5) when compared to their road record (11-15-5).
Once again….running out of time on my morning break, so I will wrap this up now. Hopefully the morning skate will see some line up changes like Ville Heinola taking Haydn Fleury’s spot and possibly Isak Rosen or Brad Lambert getting a look in the top six?? Let me hear what changes to the line up coach Scott Arniel should make over the remaining games in the Comment section.
Go Winnipeg Jets!!!!!
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POST-GAME INFO
Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)
FINAL SCORE: New York Rangers 6 Winnipeg Jets 3
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Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)
Expected Goals (all): NYR 3.44 WPG 2.59
Expected Goals (5on5): WPG 2.12 NYR 1.25
It wasn’t until Hellebuyck was on the bench for the extra attacker that New York ended up taking the lead in the xG battle last night. Winnipeg had the better of play for the most part, but poor finishing led to posts or misses when the Jets had a lot of their looks. That isn’t saying our team played great against the Rangers….just much better than their effort versus the Ducks.
Because the True Northers won the xG battle at even strength, it isn’t surprising to see 3 out of 4 forward lines above the 50% plateau. Rough outing for the Barron unit statistically, yet somehow they were the only line that didn’t score or allow a goal last night. The Lowry trio ended up a -1 by allowing NY to score 2 to their 1 goal, while the other 2 units both scored & allowed a goal at even strength.
The advanced stats say the Jets’ top 4 defenders did well versus the Rangers, yet Morrissey–DeMelo allowed a goal against without providing any offense of their own. The Samberg–Salomonsson duo did the best, being on the ice for a pair of Winnipeg goals and only one from New York. The 3rd pairing once again was on the wrong side of both actual & expected, giving up a pair while helping our team to score one.
A very rough statistical start for Hellebuyck, even if a majority of the pucks that went by him were deflected might make him feel a bit better than a -3.2 GSAE rating should.
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BOJA’S Post-Game Thoughts:
For those Winnipeg Jets’ fans that are hoping for a better draft pick in June….then last night’s hockey action went really well for our team. With the True Northers’ loss and the San Jose Sharks victory, there is now a 6 point gap between the two franchises and the Jets’ slim hopes of a playoff berth. Unfortunately, the Seattle Kraken couldn’t overcome the Colorado Avalanche and failed to extend that to 7 points…but with the number of games remaining dwindling away, the outlook doesn’t appear favourable.
The NHL’s bottom 5 teams in the standings are now all coming off of wins, making the margin between 2nd & 11th worst teams only 8 points (Vancouver has a firm grip on last place). So the remaining 18 games of the regular season could see constant shuffling of the standings as teams jockey for positioning for the upcoming Lottery Draft. Here is the bottom 12 franchises before Friday’s action gets underway, courtesy of ESPN:
Of the Winnipeg Jets’ remaining 18 matches, they will play 7 of those versus the teams listed above, so those contests could play a big role in where GM Kevin Cheveldayoff gets to select his first prospect in the upcoming draft.
The 5 games against the NHL’s top 10 squads will provide the True Northers with their toughest tests, especially the 3 times they have to square off against the league leading Colorado Avalanche. Which, of course, leaves 6 matches against the mushy middle. And that is what is left on tap for our struggling team….with a pair of back-to-back matinees this weekend versus the Avalanche & Blues on tap.
Kudos to Isak Rosen for getting his 1st goal as a Winnipeg Jet with a nice deflection…hopefully there will be many more to come. Also, can’t really sign off without commenting on Kyle Connor’s magnificent marker last night. What a pass by Mark Scheifele to hit him in stride and that got the rush started…KFC needed a bit of luck to beat the defender, with the puck bouncing off their skates and right back to Connor, but after that he coolly undressed the Rangers’ tender to score one of the NHL’s nicest goals this season.
That’s about it….busy Friday at work, so back to it. Have a good weekend all!!
