Preview: Winnipeg Jets @ Edmonton Oilers
After watching Fabian Wagner score his 7th goal in 7 games as the Manitoba Moose squeaked out an OT win on Wednesday night, I figured I would take the opportunity to get started on the preview a little bit early. The Moose’s big league affiliate didn’t play very well in their last outing, a demoralizing 6-2 loss at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks. So having a top NHL club like the Edmonton Oilers next up on the Winnipeg Jets’ schedule could end up being both a bad or good thing.
On the negative side for Winnipeg, the northern Albertans are coming off a rip-roaring 7-1 destruction of the Utah Hockey Club and the Edmonton Oilers (40-24-4) have run off three straight victories by holding their opponents to only one goal. Looking at the positive aspect, the True Northers should have no difficulties getting motivated to play the team with the 9th best record in the NHL. As the saying goes, if you fall off the horse, get right back up there.
The Winnipeg Jets (47-18-4) still have a 9 point lead on the Dallas Stars for the Central/Western Conference titles, but the “magic number” remains at 10.5 so our squad should have every motivation to get back in the win column. The Jets are also very much in play for the Presidents’ Trophy, though the team’s most recent loss has given the Washington Capitals a game in hand to potential break the tie the franchises are currently in.
Speaking of wanting to turn things around, I am not sure that I have seen Connor Hellebuyck play much worse than he did against the Canucks and he will be looking to recapture his Vezina form against Connor McDavid & company. Maybe this is just grasping for straws, but somehow I feel having to fill in for Eric Comrie when Hellebuyck was expecting the relaxing duties of a backup threw him off his routine. While I have no clue what the lineup will look like when the puck drops at 8 pm Central, but I suspect that Bucky will get the nod from coach Scott Arniel. Definitely wouldn’t hurt to put Edmonton-born Comrie in between the pipes, but with the next game not until Sunday I somehow think that is unlikely.
The goaltending decision will be far from the only roster changes that Arniel will be considering. The 3rd pairing duo of Colin Miller & Haydn Fleury have had back-to-back rough games, fellow defenseman Dylan DeMelo was a trainwreck versus Vancouver and took a couple rough knocks, and the coach even broke up the trio of Adam Lowry, Nino Niederreiter, & Mason Appleton in the last outing.
So who knows what Winnipeg will look like on Thursday evening? It is certainly way too early for PuckPedia to be updated, so here are the lines from the franchise’s last games:
While the Edmonton Oilers will always be McDavid’s team, it is their other superstar Leon Draisaitl that is doing amazing things this season (49 goals, 101 pts, good for 2nd in NHL). Other high scoring forwards include Connor McDavid (89 pts), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (45 pts), & Zach Hyman (40 pts). The Oil also have a few defensemen that get their names on the scoresheet fairly often, in Evan Bouchard (54 pts), Mattias Ekholm (30 pts), & Darnell Nurse (24 pts).
The Winnipeg Jets have plenty of players putting up points in 2024-25 too, with Kyle Connor (85 pts) & Mark Scheifele (75 pts) leading the way. The next tier is still pretty impressive with Gabriel Vilardi (61 pts), Nikolaj Ehlers (58 pts), & Josh Morrissey (52 pts). After that, our final group includes Cole Perfetti (42 pts), Neal Pionk (37 pts), Vladislav Namestnikov (34 pts), Nino Niederreiter (30 pts), & Adam Lowry (29 pts).
Enough with the players…lets move on to look at how the Jets & Oilers’ season stats compare in our Match Up graphic and ESPN’s review of the potential goalies.
When I quickly glanced at the above information, it seemed that the play of the goaltenders may be the only significant difference between Edmonton & Winnipeg this season. The stats say both teams have great offenses & powerplays, with subpar penalty killing units.
The two clubs have only met once this season….and that was on opening day (Oct 9th) when the Jets breezed to a 6-0 victory at the Rogers’ Place in Edmonton. After Thursday’s match in Alberta, they will clash in the Peg on April 13th, which will be Winnipeg’s second last game of the regular season.
Hopefully the True Northers will look at Thursday night’s contest versus the Oilers as a “statement game“. The 2024-25 Winnipeg Jets have done very well in games where they really “needed” a win, so it would be great to see them rise to the occasion once again.
Anything they could do to boost the confidence of a fragile fanbase would be appreciated….as there is still a lot of “purse clutching” amongst us whenever the Jets lay an egg. As always, would love to hear your thoughts, worries, and/or predictions for the match.
Go Winnipeg!!!!!...
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