Time: 7:00 pm CST
Channel: TSN
Radio: CJOB680/Power 97
I will start off by congratulating Josh Morrissey for being named the National Hockey League’s 3rd Star of last week, earned by picking up an impressive 7 assists in that span.
On Tuesday evening the Canada Life Centre will have the 5th place Winnipeg Jets taking on the 23rd place Seattle Kraken to entertain the fans in attendance. Winnipeg received a little bonus from the NHL schedulers, as they get to play a Seattle team that just played Monday night in Calgary and is getting prepared for their 3rd game in 4 nights. A small advantage perhaps, but at this time of the year any little thing helps.
In terms of wins & losses, the Winnipeg Jets have been excelling lately, amassing a 9-2-0 record since their season-long 5 game losing streak. However, us knowledgeable fans are aware that not everything is perfect in the True North and there is work to do before the playoffs roll around.
For one thing, our Jets have had problems keeping all their forwards healthy this season, with players like Kyle Connor, Gabriel Vilardi, and Mark Scheifele all missing time due to injuries. Now Vilardi is possibly back on the shelf with an upper body injury that Rick Bowness was quoted as saying “could keep him out of Tuesday’s game”. Admittedly, Winnipeg has done an admirable job on using the “next man up” strategy to keep the wins coming in, but it has seriously hindered the chemistry building for our offensive players. Also, the commitment to playing the defensive systems for a full 60 minutes has been waning a bit during this span, including allowing over 6 expected goals against in one of the losses. I will say Winnipeg did a much better job of limiting high danger looks in their last two outings (CAR/BUF), so that issue has hopefully been dealt with by the coaching staff.
The Seattle Kraken were still playing hockey when I went to sleep last night (beat Calgary 4 to 2), so they will be having to deal with a late night on top of having to quickly travel to Manitoba. The Kraken have been led offensively by Jared McCann (49 pts), Vince Dunn (45 pts), and Oliver Bjorkstrand (44 pts), though they have other talented forward options such as young Matty Beniers. He put up 57 pts in his rookie campaign, but the sophomore jinx seems to have gotten to him this season (25 pts in 56 games). The Kraken also have former Winnipeg Jet Brandon Tanev on their roster, though he too is having a rough year (10 pts in 45 gms), which is a far cry from his career-high 35 pts in 2022-23.
There have been rumours that Seattle is willing to move on from the feisty forward at the trade deadline (signed through next season @ $3.5M) and you have to wonder if Kevin Cheveldayoff will look into reuniting the Tanev-Lowry-Appleton line? It would free up Nino Niederreiter for a more beneficial deployment, but carrying the extra salary over to next season may not be ideal.
Will the Winnipeg Jets take a lead into a 3rd period tonight so I can watch an entire game live? Can our squad continue their chase of the Central Division title and extend their winning streak to 3 games? Tune in tonight to find out.
If you want to see a game preview from the Seattle Kraken’s perspective, check out the following from Davy Jones Locker Room:
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