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Preview: Seattle Kraken @ Winnipeg Jets

Oct 24, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Winnipeg Jets forward NikolajÊEhlers (27) skates with the puck against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

The Winnipeg Jets have treated their fans to a couple of near perfect outings in the past week, beginning with a 3-0 shutout of the Colorado Avalanche and then following that up with a 6-1 embarrassment of the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. The return of defenseman Dylan Samberg from injury has helped Winnipeg to solidify play in their own end, which is confirmed by the Jets keeping their opponents to under 2.00 expected goals & a combined 46 shots on net in the past two outings. Of course, the stellar play of Connor Hellebuyck hasn’t hurt either, with his .978 save percentage against the Avs & Nucks fairly close to perfection.

With their recent success, Winnipeg (30-12-3) remains in a battle for the President’s Trophy as they sit in a tie with the Washington Capitals (who have a game in hand). Our Jets are also the highest scoring team in the NHL (162 goals), barely holding off Alexander Ovechkin’s Caps (159). The True Northers have picked up points in 4 straight games and will be looking to take advantage of the final 2 games of their season-long 8 game homestand.

Seattle (19-23-3) wasn’t able to copy the success of the Vegas Golden Knights in their first season as an expansion team, finishing in a tie for the 10th worst record in the league. Unfortunately for the Kraken, this season has gone even worse to date, as they find themselves in a tie for the 7th worst record in 2024-25. Tonight’s opposition has gone 2-6-1 in their last 7 contests, with their only wins coming against non-playoff teams like the Buffalo Sabres & Pittsburgh Penguins. The team from the state of Washington has been average offensively this year (17th most goals), but are worse than that in their own end (7th most goals allowed).

It is early, so who knows how accurate PuckPedia’s lineup predictions will be, but lets check them out anyways.

Based on yesterday’s Winnipeg Jets’ practice, it appears that Colin Miller is very close to returning from taking a puck in the throat since he was skating in a full-contact jersey. However, the defensive pairings seemed to suggest that Ville Heinola & Logan Stanley will remain as the 3rd duo. It also sounds like Haydn Fleury is very close to a return, so the Jets may have a full stable of defensemen soon. Which explains why Dylan Coghlan was sent down to the Manitoba Moose recently. The injury front is unchanged for the forwards though, with Mason Appleton & Vladislav Namestnikov still on the shelf.

The Seattle Kraken aren’t without their own worries, as they are without key forwards Jordan Eberle (LTIR) and Yanni Gourde.

Time for all the graphics…..this time showing each squad’s top 10 scorers, a look at the franchises’ goalies, and how the teams compare based on this season’s stats (via ESPN).

As I wait for the puck to drop at the Canada Life Centre (7 pm Central), the biggest question in my mind is whether Scott Arniel will decide to start backup Eric Comrie tonight? While his 3-6-1 record isn’t very impressive, Comrie has the 22nd best save percentage (.904%) in the NHL for tenders with more than 7 appearances and the Jets have only scored 8 total goals in 6 of his losses. And that doesn’t even take into consideration that the backup has had to deal with all 4 of Winnipeg’s second half of back-to-back situations.

So if they don’t start Bucky against Seattle…..lets hope the Jets’ skaters can put a few pucks in the net to help him get a win. Enjoy the nice break in the weather…crazy 20 degree change overnight (-20 to 3 Celsius) to give us Winnipeggers a nice three day break from the cold.

Go Winnipeg!!!!

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