Winnipeg Jets vs Edmonton Oilers Preview: Jets Start Road Trip
The Winnipeg Jets take on the Edmonton Oilers tonight in the first game of a two-game series tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. central.
This is will be the second game in two nights for the Jets as they defeated the Montreal Canadiens last night thanks to a beautiful overtime goal by Nikolaj Ehlers. You can find a full post game recap along with video highlights and talking points of that game here.
After tonight, the Jets will be on the road for their next six games with one more game Saturday against Edmonton, followed by stops in Vancouver and Calgary. The Jets and Oilers are currently tied in terms of points, but the Jets have three games in hand.
With a win tonight the Winnipeg Jets would move into a tie for first place in the North division.
The North division is so tightly contested that every team with the exception of Ottawa looks like they have an opportunity to finish in the top four. Hopefully the Jets do not feel the effects of a hard fought win last night and come out strong against the Oilers.
Odds
The Action network lists the Jets as the underdogs in tonight’s matchup.
The Oilers had a big win last night against the Calgary Flames where they scored seven goals. The Jets split their last two games against the Canadiens and are on the road making them an underdog from a betting perspective.
Where you can Find the Game
TV: TSN3, SNW
Radio: 680 CJOB
Livestream: TSN.ca, TSN app
Projected Lineups
Winnipeg Jets. 2. team. 107. . 18-9-2.
The big news for the Jets roster is that Ville Heinola has been added to the taxi squad meaning that is travelling with the team. General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff hinted in his media appearance recently that in addition to looking at adding players through trade, he would like to do an assessment of potential upgrades within the organization.
Perhaps this means that Heinola will get an opportunity at some point during this seven game road trip. We may also see Jansen Harkins inserted into the line up at some point as he has not played since February 18th. He would fit well on the fourth line for either Thompson or Lewis.
The Connor-Dubois-Ehlers showed glimpses of what we all hoped when Paul Maurice put them together accounting for a combined seven points against the Canadiens. If that trend continues the Jets are going to be even more dangerous.
The Jets are projected to lineup like this:
Stastany-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Dubois-Ehlers
Copp-Lowry-Appleton
Perreault-Thompson-Lewis
Morrissey-Poolman
Forbort-Pionk
Stanley-DeMelo
Hellebuyck (Brossoit)
148. . 19-13. . Edmonton Oilers. 3. team
The Oilers separated star players Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on Wednesday night against the Flames and the result was a 7-3 victory. The loss was the first for the Flames under new head coach Daryl Sutter.
The Oilers high powered offense looked dominating against the Flames with seven different players scoring goals, and defenseman Tyson Barrie chipping in four assists. Typically, the Oilers are pretty top heavy in terms of their scoring with McDavid and Draisaitl leading the way, which has lead to some speculation as to whether they are looking at adding some offense before the trade deadline.
Kyle Turris and Jujhar Khaira are out of the lineup with injuries.
The Oilers are expected to lineup like this:
Nugent Hopkins-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Kahun-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Ennis-Haas-KassianChaisson
Chiasson-Shore-Archibald
Nurse-Barrie
Lagesson-Larsson
Russell-Bear
Koskinen (Smith)
*All Stats Provided by the NHL*