Preview: Winnipeg Jets @ Colorado Avalanche

To use a term from AIH member Padre, the Winnipeg Jets (27-10-1) played a “patient” game yesterday against the Nashville Predators and a late 5 on 3 man-advantage provided all the spark necessary to pick up a couple of points. Well, that and another stellar outing by goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (2.00 GAA/.930% on the season), who blanked the Preds on route to his 5th shutout of the season. The True Northers then had to immediately hop on a plane in order to make their next contest in Denver.

The Colorado Avalanche (22-15-0) on the other hand will be well rested for today’s meeting, since they haven’t played since picking up a 4-1 win over Utah on Dec 27th. The Avs are gambling hard on newly acquired goalie Mackenzie Blackwood (1.82 GAA/.940% in 5 starts w/ COL) being their long-term solution in net, as management has already extended his contract for another 5 seasons.

The New Year’s Eve clash between the Central Division rivals will represent their 2nd meeting of the season, with the Jets picking up a 1-0 win in the Peg on the back of a first minute goal by Gabriel Vilardi and a 35 save shutout by Hellebuyck.

Winnipeg’s medical staff continue to remain busy, with them helping Dylan Samberg, Haydn Fleury, and now Mason Appleton recover from injuries. The Jets have indicated that Appleton is considered “week-to-week” by the coaching staff and this will give coach Scott Arniel the chance to try some new options on the right wing of the 3rd line. Unfortunately it wasn’t a rookie like Brad Lambert or Nikita Chibrikov that received the initial call up from the Moose, as veteran Dominic Toninato will be joining the team in Colorado. The Jets will be returning to Manitoba after this game to start a season-long 8 game home stand on January 2nd, so maybe the home cooking will help everyone heal up.

Colorado has some injury woes of their own, obviously starting with the long-term injury to star Gabriel Landeskog. Other players that are banged up include Miles Wood, Ivan Ivan, & Oliver Kylington, however the team got a break with the news that Jonathan Drouin will be returning to the starting lineup. Here is how PuckPedia is currently projecting the coaching staffs’ to line up their players:

Only the Vegas Golden Knights’ current 6 game winning streak is longer than the Jets’ & Avalanche’s 4 game heater…..so both franchises are playing good hockey at this time. Despite that, I can’t help remembering how badly Winnipeg has played in the final games of back-to-back situations this year, so my optimism isn’t very high as I await the 7 pm Central puck drop.

The Winnipeg Jets are sitting in the 1st place in the NHL coming into the match, while the Colorado Avalanche have the 11th best record in the league. Both squads have top 10 offenses this year, but only the Jets can claim that defensively (Avs have given up the 8th most goals against).

Here are the offensive stars for each squad at this point of the season:

Winnipeg Jets: Kyle Connor (51 pts), Mark Scheifele (44), Gabriel Vilardi (34), Josh Morrissey (34), Nikolaj Ehlers (32), Neal Pionk (26), Cole Perfetti (23), & Adam Lowry (21).

Colorado Avalanche: Nathan MacKinnon (60 pts), Mikko Rantanen (53), Cale Makar (45), & Casey Mittelstadt (23).

Time to take a look at the stats….here is how the two squads look head-to-head based on this year’s numbers and a review of the goalies via ESPN:

Looking at the information above, I see that both Winnipeg & Colorado can score goals, have dangerous powerplays, and kill penalties at around the same rate. The biggest difference is in the goals allowed category, however the Avalanche’s acquisitions of Mackenzie Blackwood & Scott Wedgewood may have levelled that out quite a bit.

Alright, got to get this article up & live to give any AIH members the opportunity to display this site’s fantastic powers by urging on the Jets with some amazing predictions. Happy New Years everyone!! Have plenty of fun tonight…hopefully the True Northers give us even more reason to celebrate.

Go Winnipeg!!!