Preview: Winnipeg Jets @ Chicago Blackhawks

6 days ago  /  Arctic Ice Hockey  /  Read Time: 2 minutes 26 seconds

The Winnipeg Jets’ big victory over their Central Division rivals in Dallas on Thursday night almost secured the top spot in the Western Conference for our club….yet they still have a little bit of work to do. Just one mere point in the standings is all that is required for the True Northers…whether that comes from a Winnipeg win/overtime loss or Dallas loss/overtime loss, it doesn’t matter.



If you are wondering what is on the near horizon for the two franchises, the Jets have three games left on their schedule, starting tonight when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks before they immediately return to Manitoba to face the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday and then will finish the 2024-25 campaign at the Canada Life Centre versus the Anaheim Ducks (Wed). The Stars host the Utah Hockey Club (Sat) for their last home game of the regular season, before finishing off on the road versus the Detroit Red Wings (Mon) & Nashville Predators (Wed).



I am sure Winnipeg’s head coach Scott Arniel will be telling his players to get the Central Division & Western Conference titles locked up tonight with a win over the Hawks, stressing the need to keep up a high level of play as the playoffs approach. With back-to-back’s on the Jets’ schedule, I am guessing that we will see backup Eric Comrie in the net when the puck drops, but it is too early to say whether the team will make other changes too. The True Northers did get two key players back in the lineup when Nikolaj Ehlers & Neal Pionk returned versus Dallas, but are still without forwards Rasmus Kupari & Gabriel Vilardi. The top line winger was having a career season (61 pts in 71 gms) before sustaining an upper body injury on March 23rd, forcing Gabe to miss the last 8 contests and probably his squad’s last three as well. Hopefully he will be ready to go in the 1st round.



Chicago is dealing with a lot of injuries as well, with skaters like Jason Dickenson, Colton Dach, Connor Murphy, & Alec Martinez on the shelf. Then there is also former Jet Laurent Brossoit, who hasn’t been able to suit up for even 1 game due to injury since signing with the Blackhawks last summer.



The Jets (54-21-4) and Blackhawks (23-46-10) are at opposite ends of the NHL’s spectrum, with Winnipeg sitting atop the league standings and Chicago holding onto the 31st spot. Unsurprisingly then, our franchise has won both games this year with a 2-1 OT win in Manitoba and a 4-2 victory in Illinois.



Here is how PuckPedia is predicting the coaches to line up the players tonight…though this is before the pre-game skate so take it with a grain of salt:









Tonight’s contest will give us a chance to see some of Chicago’s up & coming stars, such as Connor Bedard (1st in 2023), Frank Nazar (13th in 2022), Kevin Korchinski (7th in 2022), Sam Rinzel (25th in 2022), & Artyom Levshunov (2nd in 2024).



Here are how the Jets & Blackhawks compare based on this year’s performances, plus ESPN’s look at the potential goalies:









Got a bit bored this morning so thought I would look at how the Winnipeg Jets skaters are doing this year when compared to their next best season in the NHL.  Here is the result:






Alright, time to wrap this up and take my screwball cat Lambo for a walk around the park. What a beautiful day in the Peg!! Really enjoy getting to open up the windows and let the fresh air come in.



Feel free to make any predictions in the Comment section below….for my part, I am giving Ehlers the Boost today in the hope that he can match his career-high point total of 64 by getting his name on the scoresheet at least once versus the Hawks.



Go Winnipeg!!!!!!!...

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