Time: 6:00 pm CST
Channel: TSN
Radio: CJOB680/Power 97
It isn’t very often that us fans get to watch the Winnipeg Jets play a game on a February 29th, since the opportunity only presents itself once every four years. However, everything aligned in 2024 for the NHL’s schedulers to give us the chance to watch the Winnipeg Jets take on the Dallas Stars on a leap year day.
And really, the timing of this contest couldn’t have been any better. With the Stars & Jets deadlocked at the top of the Central Division, tonight’s match at the American Airlines Center will ensure that it doesn’t stay that way long. Both franchises are in the NHL’s top 10 teams, as we can see from the image below (courtesy of ESPN):
The one thing that pops out to me in the above standings is that the games in hand the Jets have on all the teams ahead of them. If you took your calculator out and did the math, you would discover that Winnipeg actually has the best winning percentage as the calendar prepares to flip to the month of March.
The Winnipeg Jets are coming in on a 4 game winning streak and have picked up “W’s” in 7 of their past 8 games, while the Dallas Stars have been having difficulties winning games since they blew out Nashville 9-2 on February 15th. From that point, the Stars have amassed a 1-3-3 record and have gone 1-3-1 in their past five contests (also only scored 7 goals in those 5 games).
Winnipeg’s top players have been finding success in the past 5 games, with Josh Morrissey leading the way (11 assists), followed by Kyle Connor (5 goals/4 assists), Gabriel Vilardi (3 goals/4 assists), Sean Monahan (5 goals/assist), Mark Scheifele (goal/4 assists), and Nikolaj Ehlers (2 goals/3 assists). The Jets have also been getting success from both masked men this season, Connor Hellebuyck (28-11-6/2.21 GAA/.925%) and Laurent Brossoit (9-4-2/2.26 GAA/.922%), but the team has been allowing a higher rate of medium & high danger scoring chances against in the New Year.
The Dallas Stars have been a high scoring team this season, despite their recent struggles offensively. The team from the Lone Star state has a bevy of scoring talent, including Jason Robertson (58 pts), a rejuvenated Matt Duchene (56 pts), Roope Hintz (50 pts), and the ageless wonder Joe Pavelski (49 pts). That is not even including 40 pt players like Mason Marchment, Tyler Seguin, & Wyatt Johnston, so the home team tonight will have plenty of talent to work with. A bit surprisingly, Dallas has been getting sub-par goaltending from Jake Oettinger (21-11-5/2.98 GAA/.901%) and Scott Wedgewood (13-6-5/2.97 GAA/.899%). Oh yeah, they also just acquired Chris Tanev from the Flames too, so that should be extra fun for Winnipeg’s forwards.
A very big game on the road in Dallas tonight. The Winnipeg Jets seem to have momentum on their side coming into a battle for the top spot in the Central, but those kinds of things go out the window when rivals meet.
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