I apologize for the lateness of the game preview, but totally forgot that I was to start doing all three game coverage articles today. Oops, not a great start.
Getting to the meat of the matter, the Winnipeg Jets have travelled to Quebec to face the Montreal Canadiens this evening at 6 pm on Hockey Night in Canada. Both teams have similar records coming in to the match, with the Habs holding a 4-2-1 (9 pts) record, while our Jets are sitting at 4-3-0 (8 pts). The bad news for the Canadiens is that they currently sit in 5th in the Atlantic Division, while our hometown team is in 3rd in the Central.
Montreal has won half of their games this season in extra time and are coming in with a -2 goal differential (22 GF/24 GA). The Canadiens special teams are running at 20.7% for the PP and 73% on the PK. Winnipeg have three regulation wins under their belts and their special teams sit at 14.8% for the PP & 74.1% when short-handed. The Jets have been breaking even in terms of goals so far, with 24 GF & 24 GA through 7 games.
In terms of my expectations for the two teams coming into the season, I would have to say that the Habs have probably slightly over-performed in the opening 7 games, but Winnipeg is kind of sitting where I expected.
Will have to see if the Jets can use their increased confidence from the 3 game winning streak (EDM, STL, DET) to come out with another victory tonight. Personally, I think Winnipeg tends to have some difficulties with the style of play Montreal employs (similar to how the Calgary Flames play us), so I am ready for an “upset” by a team I expect to be in the 18th to 25th range at the end of the season.
At this point, we do not know what the lineups will look like for either team. Will the Winnipeg Jets ride the players they have gotten 3 straight wins with or will someone like Declan Chisholm or Logan Stanley work their way back in? Will it be a fourth straight start for Connor Hellebuyck or will Laurent Brossoit get his second game of the year? Tough call between giving your elite starter some rest and riding Helly’s hot hand (or should I say, blocker, glove & pads).
Will have answers to those questions in the Game Day Thread….let me hear your thoughts on how the game will play out. Any line up changes you would like to see?
