Prior to the holiday break, the Winnipeg Jets (25-10-1) put up impressive wins over the Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs to give themselves a 5 point lead in the Central Division. With four days off from NHL game action, our Jets will return to play on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators (18-14-2) when the two Canadian franchises meet at the Canada Life Centre.
The Sens’ off-season move to acquire goalie Linus Ullmark (2.38 GAA/.915%) appears to be paying dividends, as the squad from the nation’s capital is currently holding onto the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. Ullmark was extremely hot in his recent games, allowing a total of 5 goals in his last 5 starts before he was injured on Dec 22nd. Word is that Ottawa’s starter isn’t even going on their roadtrip at all, so he is expected to miss at least 5 contests. Backup Anton Forsberg (2.95/.889%) has recently been cleared to play and the team called up multiple goaltenders from the minors, so who knows exactly which masked man will be in the crease when the puck drops.
After Winnipeg’s season-long 4 game losing streak, the team’s play has picked up and allowed them to earn a 7-2-1 record over the past 10 matches. Based on Friday’s practice, it appears that “day-to-day” injury to Haydn Fleury didn’t recover enough over the 4 day break so the Jets’ management recalled Dylan Coghlan from the Manitoba Moose. Some good news in Dylan Samberg returning to skating activities and coach Scott Arniel indicating that they will monitor his progress in the hopes that he can return to the lineup in the 5 to 10 day range.
While PuckPedia has Ville Heinola on the 3rd pairing, the lines yesterday suggest we will unfortunately see the return of Logan Stanley. So who knows how accurate the predicted lineups below for Winnipeg & Ottawa will end up?
The Winnipeg Jets have two players with more than 40 points – Kyle Connor (47) & Mark Scheifele (42), two skaters with more than 30 points – Josh Morrissey (33) & Gabriel Vilardi (31), and four players with at least 20 points – Nikolaj Ehlers (27), Neal Pionk (26), Cole Perfetti (23), & Adam Lowry (21).
The Ottawa Senators have a trio of skaters with at least 30 points – Tim Stutzle (39), Drake Batherson (34), & Brady Tkachuk (33) and three more with 20 points or more – Claude Giroux (22), Josh Norris (21), & Jake Sanderson (20).
According to the Match Up numbers below, the hometown Jets should have a slight edge in almost every category when the two Canadian franchises clash. With the Senator’s best goalie on the shelf, Winnipeg should also have the advantage in that area too, as ESPN’s comparison graphic confirms.
The #1 ranked Jets facing off against the #17 ranked Senators in the Peg on Hockey Night in Canada….so how will it play out?
Winnipeg had been solid in the friendly confines of the CLC this season (12-3-1), while Ottawa has broken even on the road (8-8-1). The Senators are missing their starting goalie. The Pegger’s powerplay unit has been red hot and Hellebuyck has been doing Hellebuyck-type things. All signs point to the home town fans leaving the building happy….so that obviously makes me nervous. It wasn’t too long ago that us fans had the misfortune of watching a listless Jets squad against the lowly Ducks….and the Sens have a lot more talent to make Winnipeg pay for mistakes or a lack of effort.
Here is hoping the boys didn’t eat too much turkey & stuffing over the break…because I want to see them hungry for two points when the puck drops at 6 pm Central.
Go Winnipeg!!!!!
