After a mini-break following their 5 game home stand, the Winnipeg Jets have gone south to visit sunny Florida to take on the always dangerous Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night. The two franchises are both riding a 3 game winning streak and there are a lot of similarities in their team stats so far. Here’s how the squads match up:
CATEGORY ———————– WINNIPEG JETS ————- TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
Record: ——————– 10-5-2 ————————- 9-6-4
Goals For/GM: ————- 3.71 ————————— 3.58
Goals Against/GM: ———- 3.12 ————————— 3.63
Shots For/GM: ————— 31.6 —————————- 30.7
Shots Against/GM: ———— 27.5 —————————- 32.2
PP%: ————————— 18% ————————– 30.3%
PK%: ————————– 74.1% ————————- 85.7%
The Tampa Bay Lightning are currently sitting in 4th in the Atlantic Division and are being led in scoring by Kucherov (13 goals, 28 pts) and in assists by Point (17 helpers). The Winnipeg Jets have Connor netting the most points and goals (14 goals, 22 pts) and by Scheifele in dishes (15 assists).
If the Jets want to come out with a win tonight, it will probably be best to avoid the penalty box, as the Bolts are firing on all cylinders with the extra man and have the NHL’s 4th best PP. Winnipeg’s penalty killers have been better lately, but they are still the 7th worst in the league at stopping opposing powerplays.
I don’t expect the coaching staff to make any huge changes to Winnipeg’s lineup, but the team hits the ice shortly (10:30 am) for their morning skate and that might provide confirmation of my prediction.
Not sure how tonight’s game will play out, but hoping for the best for the Jets. Will be nice to see Mikey Eyssimont play again, as I always enjoyed his style of play with the Manitoba Moose.
Let’s hear your predictions on which winning streak will continue after tonight’s battle? Does Kyle Connor score again? Which of Winnipeg’s top 3 lines will play the best?
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