The Winnipeg Jets (5-2-0) will face their first back-to-back game situation of the NHL’s 2025-26 campaign, but they likely should have plenty of energy left over since the True Northers only managed to exert a high level of effort in 1 period last night against the Seattle Kraken. Although the final scoreboard read 3-0 for the opposition, it was really only one goal that was the difference….and I happened to miss it while making a late supper mid-game. So it wasn’t that the Jets played horribly….perhaps just uninspired.
Tonight, the Calgary Flames (1-6-1) will visit the Canada Life Centre and I’ll bet they won’t be in a great mood after failing to win any of their last 6 matches. Goal scoring has been a huge issue for our neighbours to the west, as the club has only managed to put up a goal & a half per game to date.
Because of the quick turnaround between games, Winnipeg won’t have a mandatory pre-game skate so there is no way for me to nail down who might be playing this evening. Notably, Luke Schenn played 6 minutes less than the nearest defenseman versus Seattle, which could indicate that he is banged up or lost the confidence of head coach Scott Arniel. Does that mean the perennially overlooked Colin Miller will get a shot tonight? Besides the 3rd d-pairing struggling last night (11.9 xG%), the 3rd forward unit of Alex Iafallo, Vladislav Namestnikov, & Brad Lambert also performed poorly (10.5 xG%). So perhaps the coaching staff makes a change there as well.
We likely will have to wait for the puck drop to find out for sure. In the meantime, time to check out how ESPN displays the stats for the two clubs and then take a gander at the projected line ups from PuckPedia….
MATCH UP STATS
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WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP
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CALGARY FLAMES LINE UP
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Well, I had to rely on the comedy genius of Bill Burr to get me smiling after watching last night’s Jets’ game…..I am hoping that I don’t have to pull out clips of comedy icons such as George Carlin, Mitch Hedberg, & Steven Wright to make myself happy after Winnipeg suffers a loss to a Flames’ team on a big losing skid.
The Jets did manage to win the 5 on 5 expected goals battle for the first time this season against the Kraken, so possibly they can build on that this evening. Moved up from 32nd to 30th in the league in xG%!!
I wish I had suggestions on how to make Winnipeg’s forward units better with the current players available….but I got nothing. Hit the pulse button on the blender and see what happens? I doubt that Arniel does anything that drastic, but I won’t be surprised to see more shuffling of the bottom 3 lines.
Go Winnipeg!!!!!
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POST-GAME INFO
**the information below will be added later Friday night, so check back tomorrow to look over the numbers.**
Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)
FINAL SCORE: Winnipeg Jets 5 – Calgary Flames 3
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Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)
Expected Goals (all): WPG 5.29 CGY 3.96
Expected Goals (5on5): CGY 3.12 WPG 2.14
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Check back tomorrow for BOJA’s post-game thoughts. Enjoy your weekend.
