The Winnipeg Jets face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight with puck drop at 6:00 p.m. at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
This will be the Jets first game after a 7-1 blowout loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night. Nothing went well for the Jets that night, and they did not look like the team that had climbed into second place in the North Division with a record of 15-7-1 before Saturday’s embarrassment.
The Jets players and head coach said all the right things following the loss – that they would not dwell on the loss, move forward and focus on the Maple Leafs. Games like that happen to all teams during a season, but I must admit I am concerned facing the best team in the North.
The Winnipeg Jets have the chance to close the gap between them and the first place Leafs.
This will be only the second meeting between the two teams this season with the Jets losing 3-1 to the Leafs back on game number two of the season on January 18.
Odds
The Action network lists the Jets as the underdogs in tonight’s matchup.
Given that the Jets are coming off their worst loss of the season, and that it is unlikely that the Maple Leafs will lose three games in a row, it makes sense that they are favored to win.
Where you can Find the Game
TV: TSN3, TSN4
Radio: 680 CJOB
Livestream: TSN.ca, TSN app
Projected Lineups
The Jets are going with the exact same lineup as Saturday night in Montreal, hopefully with very different results.
I did not expect any drastic changes given that they had been playing well with this lineup prior to the outlier (Blake Wheeler’s word) game in Montreal. I am still lobbying for Paul Maurice to substitute Logan Stanley on the bottom defense pair for Nathan Beaulieu.
However, it is very clear that despite what fans and media think, Coach Maurice feels that Beaulieu is a better choice than Stanley or Sami Niku.
The other change I would suggest as coach for the day would be to insert Jansen Harkins on the fourth line for either Trevor Lewis or Nate Thompson. Neither of those two players have been bad, however, I think Harkins brings more speed, scoring touch, and energy to the bottom line.
The Jets are projected to lineup like this:
Stastny-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Dubois-Ehlers
Copp-Lowry-Appleton
Perreault-Thompson-Lewis
Morrissey-Poolman
Forbort-Pionk
Beaulieu-DeMelo
Hellebuyck (Brossoit)
The Maple Leafs have been a juggernaut in the North with a division leading 38 points and a 7-3-0 record in their last ten games. However, they are coming off two consecutive losses to the Vancouver Canucks.
In both games the Canucks were able to tame the Leafs high powered offense holding them to only three goals over two games, including completely shutting down the top line of Thornton-Matthews-Marner.
I am sure that the Jets are expecting a bounce back offensive game from the highest scoring team in the NHL. The Jets would do well to try to replicate some of what the Canucks achieved against the Leafs by trying to clog up the neutral zone and shut down the Leafs potent power play.
The Maple Leafs are expected to lineup like this:
Thornton-Matthews-Marner
Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander
Mikeyev-Engvall-Hyman
Vesey-Boyd-Spezza
Rielly-Brodie
Muzzin-Holl
Dermott-Bogosian
Anderson (Hutchinson)
Winnipeg Jets Fans: Will the Winnipeg Jets win tonight in Toronto? Leave your comments below!
*All Stats Provided by the NHL*