Preview: Vancouver Canucks @ Winnipeg Jets
After starting the current four game homestand off poorly (5-3 L to BUF), the Winnipeg Jets have turned things around with two solid victories over the Washington Capitals & New Jersey Devils.
The accumulated points are much needed, as the Dallas Stars are continuing their pursuit of the Central Division’s top spot by winning their last 4 contests and are currently leading the Seattle Kraken with half a game to play to possibly extend that. That will likely keep the magic number at 7 and continue to put pressure on the Jets to keep piling up victories. The Central also has another battle going on, with the super hot St. Louis Blues notching 9 straight wins to tie the Minnesota Wild with 87 pts. This race will most likely determine who slots into the first wildcard spot and who ends up in the final wildcard position, something Winnipeg fans are certainly interested about.
A pair of Canadian franchises have a small chance at stealing the place of those two Central Division squads, but their hopes appear to be slipping. The Calgary Flames are trailing by 8 pts, but have the benefit of having 4 games in hand on the Blues, while the Jets’ next opponent, the Vancouver Canucks, are behind St. Louis by 6 pts with a couple matches in hand. It should be an interesting finish to the 2024-25 NHL regular season…..
Winnipeg (50-19-4) has been excellent at the friendly confines of the Canada Life Centre with a 27-6-4 record to date. The current 2 game winning streak has occurred despite the True Northers missing a few regular starters due to injury: Gabriel Vilardi (61 pts), Neal Pionk (37 pts), and Rasmus Kupari (8 pts). While the first two players are not close to a return (neither are skating yet), the timetable for Kupari is less certain as concussions are a finicky condition. Fortunately, the newly inserted players have helped the Jets to rediscover their stellar defensive play, as the team has held the opposition to under 2.00 expected goals in their wins over the Capitals & Devils.
Vancouver (34-26-13) will be playing the final match of a 6 game road trip when the puck drops on Sunday afternoon. With a win over Winnipeg, the Canucks could go .500 over the 6 contests and keep their slim wildcard hopes alive (15.6% chance according to MoneyPuck). Those chances dropped slightly when they blew separate 3 goal and 2 goal leads against the Columbus Blue Jackets and only walked away with the OT loser point. So the Nucks will certainly be hungry for the matinee at the CLC, but will probably have to play without injured players like Filip Chytil (26 pts) & Nils Hoglander (21 pts). Oddly, the British Columbians have been better on the road (19-13-6) than they do at Rogers Arena (15-13-7).
Since I am writing this Preview on Saturday night, the coaching staffs haven’t exactly set their lineups, but below is how PuckPedia is predicting things to play out. When it comes to Winnipeg, the only change I might expect is the potential for Eric Comrie to get the start with the Los Angeles Kings & Vegas Golden Knights next up on their schedule.
After missing out on the chance to play against a pair of Hughes’ brothers (Jack/Luke) when New Jersey dropped by the Peg, the Winnipeg Jets will get the opportunity to square off against Quinn Hughes (70 pts) when the Vancouver Canucks stop in for a visit. The 2 pm Central game will also give us fans the chance to reacquaint ourselves with a pair of former Jets in defensemen Tyler Myers (23 pts) & Derek Forbort (9 pts).
Time to see what the season’s statistics tell us about how the Canucks & Jets compare in Arctic Ice Hockey’s Match Up and ESPN’s Goaltender Comparison graphics:
Winnipeg and Vancouver have already played twice this season, with the Jets picking up a 6-1 win at the Canada Life Centre and the Canucks breezing to a 6-2 home victory in what might have been our squad’s worst performance of the season. So is revenge in the air for the True Northers on Sunday afternoon??
Lets hear your thoughts & predictions for the game in the Comment section…hope your weekend is going great!!
Go Winnipeg!!!!!!!...
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