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Preview: Calgary Flames @ Winnipeg Jets

Oct 26, 2024; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Winnipeg Jets left wing Nikolaj Ehlers (27) celebrates his goal with teammates against Calgary Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf (32) during the first period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images

When the Winnipeg Jets take to the ice this evening, they will be completing the longest home stand of their 2024-25 NHL regular season schedule, playing their 8th straight contest at the Canada Life Centre. The home cooking didn’t pay immediate dividends as the True Northers lost the first two games, but since then they have righted the ship with a 4-0-1 run. All that is left is the Calgary Flames coming to town for a Hockey Night in Canada clash….

The Jets (31-12-3) have been playing some solid defensive hockey lately, limiting opponents to less than 3 goals per game in their last 5 outings. Part of that success is a result of Dylan Samberg returning from injury, as the defenseman’s calm presence has vastly improved Winnipeg’s play in their own end…not too mention the boost he gives the Jets’ penalty killers. Another reason for the team’s recent success is the performance of Connor Hellebuyck over his past 4 starts, where the masked man has limited the opposition to an average of 1 goal per game.

As the month of January drifts by, the Winnipeg Jets remain in the hunt for the President’s Trophy and are currently deadlocked with the Washington Capitals to have 65 points on the season. The team stats continue to be stellar when you look at the goals scored (1st in NHL), goals allowed (3rd), goal differential (1st), and powerplay success (1st) categories. The hockey club from the Peg is coming into the HNIC clash on a 3 game winning streak and have picked up points in 5 straight contests, so us fans should reasonably expect another good performance by the home team this evening.

The Flames (21-16-7) have had a much better season than expected by many, after the off-season was filled with talk of a painful rebuild on the horizon for the southern Albertan franchise. Calgary has been playing fairly well lately on the back of goaltender Dustin Wolf’s remarkable rookie debut (2.57 GAA/.914% on the year), including a recent 3 game winning streak. They have hit a bit of a speed bump lately with two straight losses to the Blues in St. Louis and are looking to finish off their road trip on a positive note in Manitoba.

As of Saturday morning, the Calgary Flames have the 15th most points in the NHL which is good enough for them to sit in the final wildcard spot of the Western Conference. The Albertans rely more on their defensive play (tied for 12th for least GA in NHL) then they do their offense (tied for 4th least GF), but the league’s 3rd worst penalty kill is doing them no favours.

Here is the early lineup projections from PuckPedia for your review:

With only an optional pre-game skate this morning scheduled for the Jets, it will be difficult to confirm whether backup goalie Eric Comrie will see action tonight until much closer to puck drop. Plus defensemen Colin Miller & Haydn Fleury could possibly make their return from injuries, so who knows exactly what players Winnipeg will ice.

The Flames will be missing a couple key forwards when they lace up their skates at the CLC on HNIC, with Anthony Mantha and Connor Zary out with respective injuries. I’m am not certain who will get the start in net for Calgary tonight but Winnipeg fans may want to pray/wish that it won’t be rookie phenom Dustin Wolf, as you have to go all the way back to December 21st to find a game where he allowed more than 2 goals. That is a 7 game stretch where the tender allowed only 1 goal for the opponents in 5 of his starts.

When it comes to point leaders for the two franchises, the Winnipeg Jets have the dynamic duo of Kyle Connor (60 pts) and Mark Scheifele (53) while the Calgary Flames have Jonathan Huberdeau (32) and Nazim Kadri (29). Those point totals for the Jets’ top two forwards place them 7th & 10th in NHL scoring before today’s action begins. Wonder when Winnipeg last had that happen?

Now it is time to check out the goaltenders’ stats and see how the franchises compare based on this year’s numbers in the charts below:

The True Northers won the first meeting this year in Alberta (5-3 W – one of Comrie’s wins on the year) and the two Canadian franchises will square off twice in the next 8 calendar days to finish off the season’s series. So now we have all the information we need to prepare ourselves mentally for tonight’s Jets-Flames battle……how do you think the game will play out?

I have to admit that a worrisome thought has popped into my mind….with the recent great play of Calgary’s Wolf and Winnipeg’s known struggles to score when Comrie gets the start, I am concerned we may be in for a frustrating night in the goal scoring category. Hopefully I am wrong…..lets hear your thoughts about the game in the Comment section. Have a great weekend everyone.

Post-script:

For those of you that have let your minds wander and are already thinking about how the Winnipeg Jets will perform in the playoffs…you may want to consider that it is just 7 weeks (49 days) until this year’s NHL trade deadline. And two of those weeks will be filled with the 4 Nations tournament, though at this point the league has not restricted player movement during that span. Regardless of that, word is that many GMs are thinking they would like to get their deadline work done before the big tourney, which would give them only 3 weeks to make any key moves for a playoff push. Whether that comes to pass or not remains to be seen, but we should all keep an eye on the trade wire in the upcoming weeks anyways.

There are definitely some interesting names out there in the rumour mill and I am hoping to get around to a trade deadline preview covering the Winnipeg Jets situation some time in the next week or so. Unfortunately, our squad has returned to playing every 2nd day for the next 2 weeks…but I am sure I will find some time to update everyone on the Jets’ cap situation, trade targets, and the assets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff could use to try and improve the squad.

Go Winnipeg!!!!!

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