Well, the month of February is upon us and what a way to start off a new month….with a hockey match between the NHL’s top two teams!! This Saturday gives us fans the chance to see the best team in the West, the Winnipeg Jets (36-14-3), take on the top squad in the East, the Washington Capitals (34-11-6) in a clash of titans.
There are a lot of similarities this season between the two NHL franchises, besides the fact that their home city starts with a “W”. We can start off with the fact that neither team was expected to perform as well as they have by the “hockey experts” in the summer. Then we can move on to compare the Jets & Capitals’ abilities in scoring and stopping goals this year. Winnipeg & Washington are the league’s top two goal scoring teams this year (190 & 178 goals respectively), as well as holding onto top 5 spots on the defensive side of things. Both squads also have top special team units (Jets have best PP, the Caps are elite PKers) and have been playing well in their past 10 contests (WPG was 8-2-0, while WSH was 7-1-2). So I guess all that means that we should expect a pretty competitive outing when the puck drops at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C.
The Winnipeg Jets are still dealing with some injury woes up front, with captain Adam Lowry and key penalty killer Morgan Barron out until after the 4 Nations Face-Off. That means coach Scott Arniel will have to decide which rookie gets on the ice tonight, speedy Brad Lambert or feisty Parker Ford. I am leaning to Ford getting another shot after potting a goal in his 1st NHL game and the fact that his skills are better suited for a 4th line role. The other questions revolve around the Jets’ defense, with all 8 defenders healthy and the need to keep every one close to game shape. Will Ville Heinola get another shot or will the coaching staff continue to ride with lumbering Logan Stanley?
The Washington Capitals have been missing a few forwards for the most or all of the season, with Nicklas Backstrom, TJ Oshie, & Sonny Milano on Long-Term Injury Reserve. Otherwise the Caps are healthy and here is how PuckPedia is expecting the players to line up (prior to pre-game skate):


The Jets are coming in on a 5 game winning streak, outscoring the opposition 23 to 9 in those matches, so it seems that Winnipeg’s offense and defense are running perfectly at this point of the season. The Capitals will be entering action on a 1 game losing streak after dropping a 5-4 OT decision to the Ottawa Senators, though the Caps did mount a comeback to steal a point from the clash. Prior to that, Washington was riding high with a 7-1-0 record in the past 8 games while outscoring their rivals by a large margin (23 to 6).
Supporting the theme of how alike the Jets & Capitals have been this season, check out how similar the numbers are in ESPN’s goalie comparison and Arctic Ice Hockey’s Match Up graphics:


If you look at the teams’ top scorers this season, that is where you see a bit of differences between Washington & Winnipeg. All three of the Jets’ top forward line (Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, Gabriel Vilardi) have at least 49 points in 2024-25, while Dylan Strome is the only Capitals’ player to hit that mark. The Caps do have better depth scoring though, with 18 skaters with at least 10 pts compared to the Jets’ 14.
All signs are pointing to a goaltending duel being a possibility, with the potential that two of the NHL’s best performing masked men will be in between the pipes when action gets underway. While it was expected that Connor Hellebuyck would be among the league’s elite goalies this season, the Capitals’ Logan Thompson has put up incredible numbers in his first season in DC.
Alright, hopefully I have provided enough information for some AIH members to take a stab at predicting the final outcome of Saturday’s contest between the NHL’s best. After SaskatoonJet’s latest prognostication drove the Jets to great things against the Boston Bruins, lets keep trying to use the Arctic Ice Hockey magic to propel Winnipeg to victory this evening.
For my part, I opted to give Cole Perfetti the BOJA Boost in the hope that it will spark depth scoring from our squad when the puck drops at 6 pm Central. Enjoy your weekend everyone!!
Go Winnipeg!!!!