Tonight the Winnipeg Jets begin their final homestand of the regular season as they take on the Ottawa Senators at Bell MTS Place. Puck drop for tonight’s game is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. central time.
After tonight, Winnipeg will host the Vancouver Canucks for two games and then conclude their season with a matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Jets are coming into this game after breaking their seven-game losing streak with a 4-0 win over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. The Jets also punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs with that win. You can find our recap of that game by clicking here or the “Next” link at the bottom of the article.
The Winnipeg Jets are currently in a battle for playoff seeding
Since the Jets clinched in their last game, they are only playing for playoff seeding from here on out. Winnipeg currently holds onto the three seed in the North Division with the Canadiens two points behind the Jets, but Winnipeg has a game in hand.
There is still a lot to play for in these final four games of the regular season.
Odds
The Jets are the favorites in tonight’s matchup. Expect tonight to be another close contest between the Jets and Senators.
In the previous five meetings between Winnipeg and Ottawa, four of those games have been decided by one goal.
Where you can Find the Game
TV: SN360, City, SNW
Radio: 680 CJOB
Projected Lineups
Winnipeg made some lineup changes including changing their defensive pairings around on Wednesday and those moves help end, what was at the time, the NHL’s current longest losing streak.
Expect the Jets to go with the same exact lineup as Wednesday for tonight’s game. There is a chance that Neal Pionk could miss the game after missing practice yesterday for a maintenance day. He is listed as a game-time decision.
Connor Hellebuyck is projected to get the start in goal as he looks to pick up back-to-back wins.
The Jets are projected to lineup like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Stastny-Dubois-Perreault
Copp-Lowry-Appleton
Harkins-Thompson-Lewis
Morrissey-Pionk*
Forbort-Poolman
Heinola-DeMelo
Hellebuyck (Brossoit)
*- Game-time decision
The Senators have been playing well as of late and are currently on a two-game winning streak while winning four of their last five games. There last time out, they picked up a huge 5-1 win over the Canadiens.
Just like Winnipeg, the Senators are not expected to make any changes to their lineup. Ottawa is expected to name Anton Forsberg as their starter after he played outstanding in their last game, stopping 30 of 31 shots faced.
The Senators are expected to lineup like this:
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Paul-White-Dadonov
Stutzle-Pinto-Brown
Dzingel-Tierney-Abramov
Mete-Zaitsev
Brannstrom-Zub
Alsing-Bernard Docker
Forsberg (Gustavsson)
Winnipeg Jets Fans: What seed do you think the Winnipeg Jets will finish the regular season in? Leave your comments below!
*All Stats Provided by the NHL*