Time: 5:00 pm CST
Channel: TSN
Radio: CJOB680/Power 97
The Winnipeg Jets are back at home after a very short road trip and are preparing to face off against the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday evening. The Canada Life Centre will host a battle between two franchises headed in opposite directions, as the Jets are 4-1 in their past 5 games while the Yotes are 0-10-1 over their last 11 matches.
Our hockey team has been getting victories despite not playing to the best of their abilities, with either the powerplay or one of their forward units doing enough to get wins for Winnipeg. On Friday versus the Chicago Blackhawks, it was the heroics of Nikolaj Ehlers from the 2nd line that led the squad to victory, as the speedy Dane netted two impressive goals. At this point of the season, the Jets are sitting in 6th place in the NHL for overall points but they remain in a tight battle for the Central Division title.
The Jets have two players close to a point per game (Mark Scheifele 47 pts in 49 gms & Kyle Connor 38 pts in 39 gms), but they are also getting contributions from defenseman Josh Morrissey (41 pts in 55), Gabriel Vilardi (28 pts in 35), and Ehlers (39 pts in 55). Other noteable statistics for Winnipeg include Dylan DeMelo’s impressive +28 rating and great team goaltending from Connor Hellebuyck & Laurent Brossoit (2.35 GAA/.924 save %).
From the sounds of it, Rick Bowness will be re-inserting defenseman Nate Schmidt into the lineup, so Logan Stanley will be returning to the pressbox after getting into a few games. Unsurprisingly, the expectation is that Bucky will be back between the pipes tonight.
The Arizona Coyotes are plummeting down the NHL standings after a good start to the season and now find themselves with a better record than just 4 other franchises. Even though the Yotes have had a hard time getting wins, they have scored 3 goals per game against quality opponents recently (TOR, EDM, & COL). Unfortunately for them, their opponents netted between 4-6 goals so the offense was wasted.
Only Clayton Keller has excelled offensively for the Coyotes this season, as his 52 points in 56 games leads the team by 15 points over youngster Matias Maccelli (37 pts). Arizona does have a lot of youth on their squad, so it should be fun to watch some of their up & coming stars (Logan Cooley – 27 pts in 56 gms and Dylan Guenther – 11 pts in 19 gms). The Coyotes’ best goaltender this season, Connor Ingram (2.76 GAA/.912%), is listed day-to-day with an injury so the Desert Dogs will likely have to rely on Karel Vejmelka (3.62 GAA/.893%) or Matt Villalta (4.17 GAA/.828%).
What is going to happen in this evening’s game? Will the 2nd line continue their dominance after getting over 90% of expected goals versus the Hawks? Can the Lowry unit rebound from an awful outing against Chicago? Will Cole Perfetti joining the 4th line finally pay off with a goal?
Feel free to share your thoughts on the game in the comments below. If you want to include the Winnipeg Jet player who you think is a “lock” to score tonight….feel free to do so. I’m thinking the Monahan line will do well tonight, but going to pick Cole Perfetti for my “guaranteed goal” versus Arizona. Enjoy your nice Sunday before the cold weather descends on our province (it’s only for a couple of days, so I’m sure we’ll manage).
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