With their most recent victory over the Blues, the Winnipeg Jets have extended their winning streak to six contests and remain the only undefeated franchise left in the National Hockey League. The next obstacle in the Jets’ path comes in the form of the Seattle Kraken, as the two squads will be squaring off at the Climate Pledge Arena late this evening (9 pm CST).
The Jets (6-0-0) have been getting offensive contributions from the entire roster and that has helped the franchise to the NHL’s 5th best shooting percentage when the puck ends up being on net (14.44%). When it comes to expected goals (xG) in all situations, Winnipeg currently sits in 8th place with a 53.6% rating. However, when you break that down to 5 on 5 play (48.59 xG%), you can see how impactful the Jets’ powerplay has been this season (44.4% success rate).
Through 6 games, here is how each forward line & defensive pairing has performed:
Forwards
1st: 17 pts from Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
2nd: 20 pts from Ehlers-Namestnikov-Perfetti
3rd: 13 pts from Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
4th: 4 pts from Barron-Kupari/Gustafsson-Iafallo
Defensemen
1st: 8 pts from Morrissey-DeMelo
2nd: 9 pts from Samberg-Pionk
3rd: 5 pts from Fleury/Stanley-Miller
Got to think coach Scott Arniel has to be pretty happy about how spread out the offense has been early in 2024-25.
Since tonight’s clash is so late, the pre-game skate doesn’t take place until 1 pm CST. Therefore, I will be using PuckPedia’s starting lineup from the last game until that time.
The Seattle Kraken (4-3-0) are coming into the match after dropping a close match to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. They have been rotating the goaltenders consistently so far and that makes me expect to see Joey Daccord in between the pipes tonight (see Seattle’s goalie stats near bottom of article).
The Kraken have had a couple forwards start off the season very well, with Jared McCann (9 pts) and Jordan Eberle (7 pts) combining for 9 goals through the first 7 games. While the team defense has been there for Seattle, they have been let down by inconsistent goaltending from Philipp Grubauer and by being average at creating scoring chances (49.51 xG%).
The roster from PuckPedia below has been based on the Kraken’s practice yesterday, but this is likely how the coaching staff will line them up.
Now that we’ve seen what the starting rosters may look like, lets dive into how the franchises match up and ESPN’s comparison of the masked men…..
It always makes me happy to see the feisty Brandon Tanev (2 pts) return to the Peg and it will be nice to watch how rookie Shane Wright is adjusting to the jump to big league. But the big question is whether the Winnipeg Jets will be able to extend their perfect season to 7 games?
I thought the Jets last game was pretty evenly played after the 1st period, so I am hoping the coaches can get Winnipeg’s skaters to start the game on time. Since the game probably won’t end until near midnight, I am going to have to find a way to squeeze in a nap if I hope to be awake to see it!! Enjoy your Thursday everyone.
