Colorado Avalanche vs. Winnipeg Jets game day

This afternoon, the Jets play the first of a back to back at Canada Life Centre. The Jets are nearing the end of their season long eight game home stand, and so far they’ve played three pretty good games and most recently two not so good games. The Jets lost in Winnipeg against the Rangers 6-3 on Thursday, and now the Jets continue their two week home stand with a visit from the team at the top of the NHL league standings: the Colorado Avalanche.

The Jets battle against a team that is 8-2-0 in their last 10 games, and are sitting currently just three points away from 100. The Jets remain 5 points behind the Seattle Kraken for the second wildcard spot, but there’s several teams ahead of the Jets (before the Kraken), leaving the Jets with a very low chance (currently) at making the playoffs. The 28th overall 26-28-10 Winnipeg Jets and the 1st overall 44-11-9 Avalanche will clash at Canada Life Centre on this Saturday afternoon.

The Jets and Avalanche met once earlier this regular season. The season series started a little under three months ago in Colorado, where the Jets battled but lost 3-2. These two teams will meet again in Winnipeg on March 26th, followed by a final matchup in Colorado just two days later on March 28th. With a win tonight the Jets would even up the season series (1-1), with still two more matchups against this Stanley Cup contender this season.

The injury report for the Winnipeg Jets still has four names. Neal Pionk has an undisclosed injury and is still currently week-to-week. Nino Niederreiter recently underwent surgery which will likely keep him out for the rest of the season. Colin Miller and Vladislav Namestnikov continue to be week-to-week, but Miller has resumed skating on his own earlier this week. The Avalanche also have four players on their injury report, most notably including Gabriel Landeskog and Artturi Lehkonen, who are both currently listed as week-to-week.

Jets Projected Lineup 

Connor – Scheifele – Iafallo

Perfetti – Lowry – Vilardi

Nyquist – Toews – Rosen

Koepke – Barron – Lambert

Morrissey – DeMelo

Samberg – Salomonsson

Fleury – Bryson

Hellebuyck

Comrie

Injured: Nino Niederreiter, Vladislav Namestnikov, Neal Pionk and Colin Miller

The unconfirmed starting goalie is once again Connor Hellebuyck, who will likely start the first game of this back to back before Eric Comrie starts tomorrow afternoon against the Blues. The Jets lineup appears to have finally hit a stretch of games this season without any changes. After the trade deadline the Jets fit newly acquired Isak Rosen and Jacob Bryson in the lineup, and ever since then they’ve kept the same pairings on forward and defence every game. However, there could be some late announced lineup changes by the Jets prior to the game, so make sure to stay tuned to the Jets official X/Twitter account for any late lineup additions or changes prior to puck drop.

Avalanche Projected Lineup

Kadri – MacKinnon – Necas

Kiviranta – Nelson – Nichushkin

Kelly – Drury – Roy

Brindley – Bardakov

Toews – Makar

Manson – Burns

Kulak – Malinski

Blankenburg

Wedgewood

Blackwood

Scratched: Ross Colton (day-to-day)

Injured: Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen and Logan O’Connor

The Avalanche lineup is full of depth, but with a few injuries up front, they might just roll with 13 forwards and 7 defencemen today. Each line has a good mix of speed and skill, so it will be interesting to see how the Jets match up against certain lines throughout the game. Looking at the Avalanche’s player stats through 64 games, Nathan MacKinnon leads the way big time with an outstanding 108 points in 63 games. Scott Wedgewood is the likely, but unconfirmed starting goalie. Even disregarding the fact that Wedgewood is the starting goalie on the team with the best record, the 33-year old has been putting up some fantastic Vezina calibre numbers. Wedgewood has a 25-4-5 record with a sparkling 2.16 GAA and a .918 SV% with 2 shutouts.

Jets player to watch: Connor Hellebuyck

Tonight the player to watch from each team will be a duo that will be remembered for different reasons at the Winter Olympics. Connor Hellebuyck backstopped Team USA to their first Gold medal in Men’s Olympic Hockey since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980. Since returning from Italy, Hellebuyck has had a few “Grade A” starts, but he’s also had his fair share of below average starts. Hellebuyck’s start against the Rangers was far from the best version of Hellebuyck, and he was fooled several times by deflected pucks. Hellebuyck is currently 16-18-9 with a 2.80 GAA, a .899 SV% and still 0 shutouts. With a few familiar Olympic opponents across the ice from Hellebuyck tonight, hopefully we see the Gold Medalist version of last year’s MVP in net tonight for the Jets.

Avalanche player to watch: Nathan MacKinnon

Nathan MacKinnon is having himself another MVP calibre season. In 63 games, MacKinnon has 44 goals and 64 assists for 108 points. MacKinnon only trails Connor McDavid by three points for the league lead, and he continues to be a big reason why the Avalanche have had so much success throughout this season. In the last 5 games, MacKinnon has 9 points, and side note, that’s the same amount that Mark Scheifele has, who’s now tied for 6th in the league for points. MacKinnon leads the league with 44 goals, and is well in the lead in terms of +/- (for what it’s worth) with an eye opening +58. The Jets will need to watch out for MacKinnon all night if they want a chance at securing a big two points this afternoon.

Puck drop in Winnipeg, Manitoba is set for just after 3:00 pm CDT. This afternoon’s game will be a very tough test for the Jets, who will be playing their sixth straight home game. Jets fans will get to see the heritage blue jerseys for the third last time this afternoon, with the other two times coming up tomorrow and on March 17th. Stay tuned here at Jets Nation for a recap of the action, as the Jets look to prevent to Avalanche from being one step closer to being the first team to reach 100 points this season.

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