After an idle Friday for the Winnipeg Jets, the National Hockey League’s out of town scoreboard ended up shuffling the True Northers down the standings as the St. Louis Blues continue to string wins together (6-2-2 in past 10). Unfortunately for the tankers among the fanbase, the Seattle Kraken lost their 3rd straight contest and missed a chance to overtake the Jets, thus our hockey team is sitting with the 6th best odds in the upcoming Lottery Draft.
Winnipeg has just 13 days remaining in their regular season schedule, with road games versus the Columbus Blue Jackets, St. Louis Blues, Vegas Golden Knights, & Utah Mammoth (2 playoff teams, 2 fighting for a spot) and home contests against the Seattle Kraken, Philadelphia Flyers, & San Jose Sharks (3 teams in the wildcard hunt).
And that brings us to Saturday evening’s game for the True Northers……
WPG Jets @ CLM Blue Jackets
Start Time: 6:00 pm Central – Nationwide Arena
Amazingly with 12 points separating them in the standings, both the Blue Jackets and Jets are in the fight for a playoff berth. Such is the state of the Eastern & Western Conferences in 2025-26. Columbus is in a 4-way tie for the East’s last wildcard spot, but have 6 less regulation wins than the Ottawa Senators, who are currently holding the playoff ticket. They also have less reg. wins than the Detroit Red Wings, but do have an edge on the Philadelphia Flyers. Finally, the Wings & Sens have the advantage of having an extra game in hand.
Winnipeg (32-31-12) is in 27th place in the NHL with 76 points on the season, scoring 213 Goals For (25th) and allowing 231 Goals Against (tied for 14th). Mark Scheifele leads the Jets with 34 goals, 58 assists, and 92 points. Kyle Connor is tied for the goal scoring lead too, while Gabriel Vilardi is 6 back with 28 goals.
Columbus (38-26-12) is tied for the 11th best record in the league with 88 points, scoring 240 Goals For (16th) and allowing 236 Goals Against (tied for 18th). Zach Werenski leads the Jackets with 78 points, while also having the most assists with 57. Kirill Marchenko is the club’s leading goal scorer with 26 red lights lit so far this season.
Here is how the two clubs’ year-to-date stats compare when you look at the head-to-head data, via ESPN‘s team & goaltender comparison numbers:
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The numbers above agree with MoneyPuck’s stats in indicating that Columbus have been the better franchise this season. When you look at 5 on 5 play over the entire season, the Blue Jackets have been very good with a 51.56% Expected Goals percentage (9th in NHL) and their Actual Goal rate is almost as good at 52.7% (11th). They have improved since Rick Bowness took over too, as those figures have gone up to 53.3% xG’s and 55.34% aG’s (both good for 8th in the NHL).
That doesn’t compare favourably to Winnipeg, whose 47.96% Expected Goals percentage (24th) and 48.82% Actual Goal rate (19th) are quite a bit lower. Oddly, things have improved and worsened over the past 20 contests, as the Jets have earned the 14th best xG’s (50.17%) but only scored at the 25th best aG’s rate (43.84%).
Here are the line up projections for both clubs via PuckPedia based on the most recent games:
WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP
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COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS LINE UP
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Sounds like the pre-game skate confirmed that rookie Elias Salomonsson is injured from the hit he took in the Dallas game, so Jacob Byrson will be coming in on the 3rd pairing with Haydn Fleury. Another Connor Hellebuyck start as he tries to get his save percentage above .900%….but it has been going in the wrong way over his past couple starts.
That is all I have time for today…..got to do some grocery shopping before the Manitoba Moose game starts at 2 pm. Have a good Easter weekend everyone.
Go Winnipeg Jets!!!!!
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POST-GAME INFO
Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)
FINAL SCORE:
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Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)
Expected Goals (all):
Expected Goals (5on5):
Was thinking of ordering some food before tonight’s Jets game and noticed this on Skip The Dishes…..
Not what I was craving….but thought it was pretty funny. Think there is a KFC commercial with Kyle Connor out too.