Winnipeg Jets vs Blackhawks Preview: The Streak, Odds, Lineups, TV, Etc

The Winnipeg Jets are hosting the Chicago Blackhawks at the Canada Life Center tonight. Tonight’s game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. central time.

This is the second game of the Jets’ current seven-game homestand. The Jets started this homestand with a shootout victory versus the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night. You can read our site’s recap of the game by clicking the link here.

With that win 4-3 shootout win against the Stars, the Jets are currently on a seven-game point streak and have yet to lose on home ice.

The Winnipeg Jets put their great streak and great home form on the line against the struggling Chicago Blackhawks

Chicago is coming into this game after playing the undefeated, Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday. The Blackhawks played extremely well for half the games taking a 3-1 lead. Unfortunately for Chicago, they allowed three unanswered goals to Carolina and lost 4-3 in regulation. With that loss, the Blackhawks only have one win in eleven games.

Odds

As expected, the Winnipeg Jets come into tonight as the favorites, courtesy of WynnBET.

Winnipeg has been on fire the past couple of weeks, while Chicago has the second-worst record in the NHL. The Blackhawks played Carolina tough two nights ago, so do not expect this to be an easy game by any means for the Jets.

Projected Lineups

With the Jets having back-to-back games on back-to-back days many fans are interested to see how Paul Maurice and the Jets coaching staff manage the Jets goaltending situation.

Eric Comrie got the start and win on Tuesday because Connor Helllebuyck missed the game due to the birth of his child. There are some arguments on both sides whether to start Comrie again or start Hellebuyck tonight against the Blackhawks who have struggled to score goals. Then you add in the fact that the Islanders who have been a top-four team the past two seasons are coming to Winnipeg tomorrow and there is an interesting decision to be made.

Connor Hellebuyck is a goaltender that always averages the most minutes played around the league, therefore it is projected that Hellebuyck will start both of these games.

Other than that one change to Tuesday’s lineup, the rest of the Jets’ lineup is projected to remain the same.

Here’s how the Jets are projected to lineup:

Connor-Dubois-Svechnikov
Stastny-Copp-Ehlers
Lowry-Scheifele-Wheeler
Harkins-Nash

Dillon-Pionk
Morrissey-Schmidt
Stanley-DeMelo
Beaulieu

Hellebuyck (Comrie)

Just like the Jets faced during the past couple of weeks, the Blackhawks are having their issues with having players in the COVID-19 Protocol.

Both Tyler Jonson and Isaak Phillips were ruled out on Wednesday due to being in the COVID Protocol. Both of those players are not expected to play tonight.

Henrik Borgstrom is projected to return to the lineup after being removed from the Protocol on Wednesday but did not play against the Hurricanes.

Marc-André Fleury is projected to start in goal for the Hawks. The former 2003 first overall pick has a 1-6-0 record with a 3.96 goals against average and a .886 save percentage.

Here is how the Blackhawks are expected to lineup:

Kubalik-Dach-Kane
Debrincat-Kurashev-Hardman
Hagel-Toews-Carpenter
Khaira-Borgstrom-Strome

de Haan-Jones
Gustafsson-Murphy
Stillman-McCabe

Fleury (Lankinen)

Where to Catch the Game

TV: TSN3, NBCSCH

Radio: 680 CJOB

Livestream: TSN.ca, TSN APP, ESPN+

Winnipeg Jets Fans: What are your predictions for tonight’s game? Leave your comments below!