Winnipeg Jets Hope to Avoid Getting Burned by Flames in Calgary

The Winnipeg Jets have been winning games lately, but mostly at home. Now they’re on a four game road-trip, and taking on the Calgary Flames tonight is a decent challenge for this team.

The Winnipeg Jets can win at home. We know that, they’ve proven it pretty well. Only problem is, the Nashville Predators won’t let them have home ice.

I’m sure they’ll keep trying, and the only way to do that is to get points. The Jets continue that quest tonight on the road. They’re on the west coast, after having taken on Vancouver, they’ll be in Calgary tonight.

They will likely do so against surprise stud goaltender, David Rittich. Rittich, 26, entered the year with a .904 save percentage in basically just last season, where he started 16 games.

The Flames like him and stuck him with Mike Smith, who I can’t believe anyone trusts to play well. Oh, by the way, Smith has been bad. To the tape!

Mike Smith – 13 GS, 5-7-1, .876% save percentage, 3.48 GAA, 1SO

David Rittich – 8 GS, 7-1, .931% save percentage, 1.93 GAA, 1SO

Very clear here that A) Mike Smith is bad, and B) Rittich has been fantastic with the same defense in front of him.

He’s been so good, he’s getting the  good assignments. The Winnipeg Jets are one of the better teams in the league and the Flames know it. They’ve been playing well, and, even though they’re not the deepest team, they’re in a great position to go for it.

If Rittich is the real deal, or at least keeps playing at a high level for this season, the Flames are contenders. They’re top heavy and they score goals at a roughly league average pace.

But hey, they give up goals at about a league average pace. And if they stop playing Smith, that might improve. They’re already in second place in the (admittedly weak) Pacific. There’s no squinting to see how things could go, they’re already good.

But while they’re not an “elite” team, they pose an issue for the Jets. West coast games are never easy, and while Calgary isn’t even as far as, say, Tampa to New York, it’s still a ride.

And the Jets are going to be tested on the road, and this is step one. Minnesota is step two after Thanksgiving. Worry about Black Friday when it comes.

The Flames have speed and very aggressive forwards. Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan are all very good forwards. The Jets defense has a lot on their hands.

And so do their forwards. These dudes can all blast through the neutral zone, and Winnipeg can’t let them walk it in. Easier said than done, I know. But those are they keys to the game.

Control the neutral zone, mitigate those three and the top defenseman (T.J. Brodie, Mark Giordano and Noah Hanifin) and bam, the rest of the roster is mediocre.

But you know, those guys can be all 5 dudes on the ice, so, their work is cut out for them. I’m interested to see how Connor Hellebuyck responds to a mediocre start against Vancouver, though there were defensive breakdowns.

And I’m interested to see how the Jets come out on the road against a really competitive team. I know Vancouver isn’t terrible, but they’re not good. Let’s see what happens.