Time: 7:00 pm CST
Channel: TSN
Radio: CJOB680/Power 97
The Winnipeg Jets have already officially wrapped up a spot for the NHL’s post-season but with 5 games left in the regular season, the team is still jockeying for home ice advantage in the opening series. Sitting two points back of the Colorado Avalanche, the Jets have a game in hand and a head-to-head contest between the division rivals (April 13th) is looming large. So far this year, Winnipeg has knocked off Colorado at home (6-2) and on the road (4-2) in December but our squad isn’t playing the same shut-down style of hockey recently.
With equally tough remaining opponents, the final 10 days of the schedule will determine who gets to host a play-off series.
Colorado: vs MIN, vs WPG, @ VEG, and vs EDM
Winnipeg: @ NSH, @ DAL, @ COL, vs SEA, and vs VAN
Now, some of you will be saying that playing at home in the NHL post-season isn’t really an advantage…and the general statistics do support that stance since friendly confines only led to 53% of the wins in the 2022-23 play-offs. However, the Avalanche have been an average team on the road this season (19-16-5), but have the league’s best record on home ice (29-8-1). When it comes to Winnipeg, they have similar records whether they are playing in Manitoba or not (25-11-3 H/22-13-3 A).
All that is putting the cart before the horse, so to speak, since tonight the Winnipeg Jets will have to deal with the Nashville Predators. With only 4 games left, the Preds pretty much need to win them all to overcome the Jets for 3rd in the Central, so a regulation victory by our squad in Tennessee could end the race. It has been quite the late charge by Nashville this season, with them going an impressive 18-4-2 record in their last 24 contests. If you’re interested, Winnipeg had a 14-9-1 record in the same number of games.
So, looking to tonight’s game at Bridgestone Arena, the Jets will be hoping to even the season series with a road victory and here is ESPN’s goaltender comparison:
Nashville’s offense has been led by some of the usual suspects (Filip Forsberg’s 89 pts & Roman Josi’s 78 pts), but they have also helped some newcomers to the team re-discover their games (Gustav Nyquist’s 71 pts & Ryan O’Reilly’s 65 pts). To highlight Winnipeg’s lack of offensive flair this season, the Jets only have one player with enough points to join that group (Mark Scheifele’s 66 pts). Our boys have scored at least 4 goals in their past 3 matches, so we can hope the Jets will keep lighting the lamp in Nashville.
Can Winnipeg solidify their playoff positioning and put themselves in a good place to challenge for 2nd with a win tonight? Join us this evening to find out.
Looking for an easy way to support Arctic Ice Hockey Use our Affiliate Link when shopping hockey merch this hockey season!
