Preview: Buffalo Sabres @ Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets have had a couple days off after squeaking out an overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers, hopefully allowing the coaching staff to work on the team’s special teams during yesterday’s practice. Our squad is still leading the National Hockey League in successful powerplay conversion (30%), but teams like the Vegas Golden Knights (29.8%) and Detroit Red Wings (29%) are looking to oust the Jets from their perch.
The True Northers will get back to work when the Buffalo Sabres visit the Canada Life Centre on Sunday afternoon (2 pm Central start). It will be the second of two contests between the franchises in the 2024-25 season, with Winnipeg pulling out a 3-2 overtime victory in New York state earlier in the year.
The Jets (48-18-4) are sitting in the NHL’s #2 spot with 100 points on the campaign, a mere 2 points behind the league leading Washington Capitals. The magic number for Winnipeg to lock up the Central Division & Western Conference remains at 9 since the Dallas Stars edged the Philadelphia Flyers in OT on Saturday. Our Jets are the 2nd highest scoring team in the NHL (243 goals for) while also being the league’s best defensive squad (165 goals against).
The Sabres’ (27-35-6) season has not gone the way management wanted once again, as the East Coasters are the worst team in the Atlantic Division with 60 points, putting them 29th in the entire NHL. That will be 13 straight seasons without a playoff appearance by Buffalo, something that must be seriously testing their fanbase’s commitment to the franchise. Based on the stats this season, the lack of a post-season appearance isn’t the fault of their offense (15th most goals scored), but seems to clearly rest with the team defense/goaltending (29th most goals allowed).
Since there will be no pre-game skate due to the afternoon puck drop, we will have to go along with PuckPedia’s predictions for now. The Sabres did play yesterday against the Minnesota Wild (4-1 L), so I would expect Manitoban James Reimer to get the start in net today. When it comes to our Jets, Connor Hellebuyck’s recent struggles makes me think Sunday would be a perfect time for an Eric Comrie start. Guess we’ll wait and see….
It will be interesting to see whether Winnipeg Jets’ coach Scott Arniel makes some alterations to the lineup today. He has kept the same roster rolling recently, so will he keep trying to build chemistry with those guys or will we finally see someone new inserted. Rasmus Kupari hasn’t played since taking a tough bodycheck, Logan Stanley has been a press box regular, while players like David Gustafsson & Ville Heinola are likely long shots to break in without injuries further up the depth chart.
The Buffalo Sabres have been running a 11 forward-7 defensemen lineup recently due to injuries to Joshua Norris & Jiri Kulich, so we will have to see if that continues against our squad.
Okay, time for us to dive into the numbers for a bit with Arctic Ice Hockey’s review of how the Jets & Sabres compare based on this year’s stats and ESPN’s look at the goaltending situation:
While this is certainly not an in-depth analysis, a quick scan of the above numbers gives me the feeling that the Winnipeg Jets should be the better team when the puck drops at 2 pm. Besides the Buffalo Sabres’ offense helped by players like Tage Thompson (60 pts), JJ Peterka (53 pts), & Rasmus Dahlin (53 pts), & Alex Tuch (50 pts), the visiting squad does not stack up that well against the True Northers. However, the question remains whether the match will actually play out that way….so you better tune in.
Well, it is 10 am already so I should get this posted so that AIH members can make their predictions for the upcoming contest. Hope you enjoyed your weekend and that our Jets help to make it even better with a strong performance this afternoon.
Go Winnipeg!!!!!...
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