The Winnipeg Jets are in St. Paul, Minnesota for their final game of their three-game season opening road trip as they take on the Minnesota Wild. Puck drop for tonight’s game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. central time.
This is a battle between a team that is looking to stay undefeated versus a team that has yet to win its first game. The Jets have lost the first two games of this road trip, while the Wild started their season with back-to-back away wins against the Ducks and Kings on Friday and Saturday nights.
Both of Minnesota’s wins were by one-goal regulation wins and in their first game, Marcus Foligno scored the game winning goal with seven seconds remaining in the game.
The Winnipeg Jets are playing in their first divisional matchup of the season as they match up against the Minnesota Wild
After the divisions were restructured last season due to the COVID travel restrictions, the Jets and Wild are back in the central division for this season. This game is both of these teams’ first central division game since the 2019-2020 season.
Odds
The Jets are the underdogs in tonight’s matchup, courtesy of WynnBET.
It should come as no surprise that Winnipeg is the underdog considering their slow start and Minnesota’s hot start.
In the first divisional game of the season expect a tight-checking, fun-to-watch, physical game that will go down to the wire.
Where you can Find the Game
TV: TSN3, BSN, BSWI
Radio: 680 CJOB
Livestream: TSN.ca, TSN app, ESPN+
Projected Lineups
One main concern for the Jets tonight is the availability of their captain, Blake Wheeler. Wheeler missed practice yesterday due to entering the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols and there is still no update on if he will be available to play.
If Wheeler is unavailable, Evgeny Svechnikov will come back into the lineup after being scratched on Saturday night. Subsequently, Andrew Copp will move to the first line and Paul Stastny will move up to the second line.
Then Adam Lowry will center Jansen Harkins and Kristian Vesalainen. Finally, Cole Perfetti and Evgeny Svechnikov will then play on the wings with Riley Nash in the center on the fourth line.
The Jets defense is projected to remain unchanged. There is a small chance we could see Nathan Beaulieu make his season debut in place of Logan Stanley, but that looks unlikely.
Connor Hellebuyck is expected to start in goal as he looks to bounce back and get his first win of the season.
The Jets are projected to lineup like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Copp
Stastny-Dubois-Ehlers
Harkins-Lowry-Vesalainen
Svechnikov-Nash-Perfetti
Dillon-Pionk
Morrissey-Schmidt
Stanley-DeMelo
Hellebuyck (Comrie)
The Wild have kept a consistent lineup for their opening games and it is projected that they will keep the same lineup again.
Cam Talbot has started the first two games of the season and has two victories for the Wild and is projected to start. Kaapo Kahkonen will be the backup goaltender.
The Wild are expected to lineup like this:
Kaprizov-Eriksson EK-Zuccarello
Greenway-Hartman-Foligno
Rask-Gaudreau-Fiala
Duhaime-Sturm-Bjugstad
Goligoski-Spurgeon
Brodin-Dumba
Merrill-Kulikov
Talbot (Kahkonen)
Winnipeg Jets Fans: Will the Winnipeg Jets get their first win of the season in tonight’s game against the Wild? Leave your comments below!
*All Stats Provided by the NHL*