Time: 9:00 pm CST
Channel: CBC & Sportsnet
Radio: CJOB680/Power 97
The Winnipeg Jets are starting a mini-road trip to Western Canada that includes stops in Vancouver and Calgary as they enter an important section of the NHL’s regular season. Up first will be a real test for our Jets, as they will face off against the league-leading Vancouver Canucks on Hockey Night in Canada’s late game.
Winnipeg is coming into today’s match on a 2 game winning streak and have been playing well defensively (allowing 1 goal against in their last 60 minutes), but Jet players have been squeezing their sticks too tight making goals difficult to come by. On a positive note, our squad has been creating good scoring looks over the past two contests, averaging over 3 expected goals per game, so hopefully the Peggers can re-discover their finishing touch. If they can’t, then the coaching staff will have to rely on the Jets being the best defensive team in the NHL (least amount of goals against) and their Vezina-caliber goalie Connor Hellebuyck (.926%) to come out victorious.
Based on yesterday’s practice, it appears that Winnipeg’s coaching staff has made the questionable decision to return Nicholaj Ehlers to the 2nd line. Personally, I think the coaches should have demoted Kyle Connor until he rediscovers his game post-knee injury, but I wasn’t the guy standing behind the bench at the All-Star Game, so maybe Bones knows what he is doing.
Things have gone really well for Vancouver this season, as they have morphed into a high scoring squad without cheating on the defensive side of the puck. Coach Rick Tocchet has his team playing a 200 foot game that limits scoring opportunities against, but when the team does make mistakes they have strong goaltending to fall back on (Thatcher Demko .920% & Casey DeSmith .908%). The Canucks are getting offensive contributions from a bunch of players (14 with at least 19 pts), however they have four key players driving their scoring (Elias Pettersson – 72 pts, JT Miller – 70 pts, Quinn Hughes – 66 pts, & Brock Boeser – 54 pts). Notably, those four Nuck players all have more points than the Jets’ leading scorer (Mark Scheifele – 43 pts).
I’m sure tonight’s contest has most Winnipeg Jets’ fans nervous about the potential of an embarrassing loss, but it also represents an opportunity to prove themselves against the cream of 2023-24 and set the stage for a strong finish to the regular season.
The bottom six have done their part lately, scoring 66% of Winnipeg’s goals in the last two games, so it’s about time that the top six and powerplay step up. Both Sean Monahan & Gabriel Vilardi looked dangerous at times versus San Jose, so maybe they are due to break through tonight in Vancouver?
I am off for the day and won’t be back until this evening, as I will be watching the Manitoba Moose play the Milwaukee Admirals this afternoon at the Canada Life Centre. It will be my first time seeing Brad Lambert & the Moose play live this season, so hopefully they put on a good show against one of the AHL’s better teams. It seems that Thomas Milic has grabbed hold of one of the goaltending spots for Manitoba since his recall. His 4-1-1 record since then has led the minor league affiliate to send struggling Oskari Salminen to the Norfolk Admirals in the ECHL to rediscover his form.
Have a good day……and Go Jets!! Go Moose!!
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