The Winnipeg Jets begin an important stretch of their season tonight when they host the Minnesota Wild at the Canada Life Centre. The opening puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. central time.
As I wrote about in an article that featured on our site yesterday, this next week of games for the Jets is extremely important considering how they need to make up ground in the playoff race and their next five games are against Central Division opponents.
The Jets went into the all-star break on an extremely poor run of form and definitely need to make some changes as they look to climb up the standings. Dan St. Joseph wrote an excellent article about three things Dave Lowry should do to Make the Playoffs and it will be interesting to see if Lowry employs any of these changes in tonight’s game.
The Winnipeg Jets face off against the Minnesota Wild who were on fire before the break
Heading into the Wild’s five-day break, they won six straight games including beating the Blackhawks 5-0 in their last contest. Currently, Minnesota has the joint longest winning streak in the NHL, with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and they have a 9-0-1 record over their last ten games.
Winnipeg Jets Lineup News
Yesterday the Jets announced that Pierre-Luc Dubois, Neal Pionk, and Austin Poganski have all entered the COVID-19 Protocol and therefore all three of those players will not be available to play this evening.
Also, both Logan Stanley and Nathan Beaulieu were wearing non-contact jerseys at practice yesterday and are doubtful tonight, but Dylan DeMelo is expected to return to the lineup and play on a pair with Josh Morrisey. Declan Chisholm and Ville Heinola are expected to play on a defensive pairing together after both players were recalled from the Manitoba Moose yesterday.
Kristian Reichel was also among those recalled and he is projected to come right into the lineup and play on the wing on a line with Adam Lowry and Evgeny Svechnikov.
Odds
WynnBET lists the Winnipeg Jets as the underdogs in this game.
This should come as no surprise considering where these teams sit in the standings, their prior matchups, and how these teams were performing before the break.
The Jets and Wild have met twice this season and both times were at the Excel Energy Center in St. Paul. Minnesota was victorious in both of those games by completing a two-goal third period comeback with less than five minutes remaining to win the first meeting 6-5 in overtime and then steamrolling the Jets 7-1 in the most recent game between these sides.
Also as mentioned above, the Wild are riding a long winning streak into this game and only lost two games since the beginning of January (9-1-1 record), while the Jets have only won one of their past eight games (1-5-2) including losing to the Flyers in their last contest 3-1.
Where to Catch the Game
TV: TSN3, BSN, BSWI
Radio: 680 CJOB
Live Stream: TSN APP, TSN.CA, ESPN+
Winnipeg Jets Fans: Will the Winnipeg Jets beat the Minnesota Wild for the first time this season? Leave your comments below!