With the surprising win on Saturday over the league leading Colorado Avalanche, the Winnipeg Jets have managed to pull within 6 points of the Western Conference’s final wildcard spot. That spot is currently being held by the San Jose Sharks, who have played 1 less game than the True Northers, and our club still needs to pass 4 other franchises in standings before they could grab that last post-season berth. So there is a lot of work to be done with only 17 more contests left in the regular season.
After effectively stifling the high powered Avs’ offense for large chunks of yesterday’s contest, Winnipeg will have another difficult test this afternoon when the streaking St. Louis Blues visit. The Central Division team has been excellent since the Olympic break concluded (7-1-1), yet they remain near the bottom of the NHL standings.
Coming into today’s action, both the Jets & Blues are tied for the league’s 4th worst record along with the New York Rangers, 3 points up on the 3rd last Chicago Blackhawks and 5 points up on the 2nd last placed Calgary Flames.
Winnipeg (27-28-10) have scored 185 goals this season to date (tied for 25th most in NHL), while allowing 200 against (tied for 9th lowest). The Jets have been led offensively by a pair of 30 goal scorers in Mark Scheifele (81 pts) & Kyle Connor (74 pts), with winger Gabriel Vilardi (54 pts) chipping in 25 markers as well.
St. Louis (27-29-10) have scored 175 Goals For (tied for 29th in the NHL), while letting in 219 Goals Against (26th fewest). The Blues don’t have a really high point getter due to star center Robert Thomas missing 17 contests, yet he still is leading the club with 44 points. Other offensive contributors include the likes of Pavel Buchnevich (40 pts), Jordan Kyrou (35 pts), Jimmy Snuggerud (34 pts), and Justin Faulk (32 pts).
Here is how the two clubs’ year-to-date stats compare when you look at the head-to-head data, via ESPN‘s team & goaltender comparison numbers:
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Unlike yesterday’s contest, the statistics suggest today’s Jets-Blues clash at the Canada Life Centre should be an evenly contested affair….though Winnipeg is going up against a pair of goalies that have been playing very well as of late (allowed 16 goals against in past 9 games for a 1.778 GAA).
St. Louis will be putting a 2 game winning streak on the line this afternoon, as our True Northers will be trying to put together a multi-game hot run in order to make a late charge for a playoff berth. Who will come out on top??
No morning skates today due to the 2 pm Central start time, 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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ST. LOUIS BLUES LINE UP
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After Connor Hellebuyck put up a .966 save percentage versus Colorado on Saturday, it is expected that we will see Eric Comrie get back into the crease today. The back up hasn’t played since February 25th, but has won each of his last 4 starts (allowing only 5 goals against in those matches).
That is about all I have time for….since it is less than 3 hours to puck drop. Ended up going out for dinner after the Jets’ game yesterday and the beers tasted too good….so I slept in quite long this frigid Sunday morning. Have a good day everyone!!
Go Winnipeg Jets!!!!!
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POST-GAME INFO
Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)
FINAL SCORE: Winnipeg Jets 3 St. Louis Blues 2
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Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)
Expected Goals (all): STL 3.12 WPG 2.99
Expected Goals (5on5): STL 1.97 WPG 1.06
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BOJA’S Post-Game Thoughts:
The Winnipeg Jets’ win on Sunday briefly had the club only 4 points away from the Western Conference’s final wildcard spot…but then a Seattle Kraken win over the Florida Panthers extended that to 5 points by the end of the night. So now the True Northers find themselves right in the middle of a playoff berth and a top 3 pick in the upcoming draft with 16 games left in the regular season.
Up next is another contest that will be impactful in the standings, as the Nashville Predators will visit Manitoba on Tuesday. With the Preds having a 1 point lead on the Jets, this clash will have the ability to decide who ends up higher in the Central Division standings.
Despite going 6-2-2 in their past 10 matches, the Winnipeg Jets have only shuffled between the 5th and 6th worst spots in the NHL standings……but Tuesday’s action will give them the opportunity to finish as high as 7th or 8th. The Nashville game will also end the True Northers’ long homestand, sending them on the road as the NHL schedule throws tougher opposition at them (@ BOS, PIT, & NYR – vs VEG & COL – @ COL, CHI, DAL, & CLM).
