The Jets hit the road to visit the Nashville Predators in what will be a rematch of last season’s playoff battle. Everyone from around the league has been looking forward to this matchup since the end of the extremely entertaining seven game series in May. Tempers are likely to run hot as these teams aren’t friends and likely have scores to settle from last season. Both Nashville and Winnipeg are projected Stanley Cup contenders this season and it’s the first real test for both clubs. It’s shaping up to be a fun night in Music City.

Winnipeg Jets (2-1-0)
@
Nashville Predators (2-1-0)

October 11, 2018 – Puck drop: 7:00 PM CST
Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TV
TV: TSN3 – Radio: TSN 1290

Kyle Connor – 3	Goal Leader	Viktor Arvidsson – 2
Four Players – 2	Assist Leader	Four Players – 2
Kyle Connor – 4	Points Leader	Ekholm / Subban – 3
25% (Tied 12th)	The Power Play	0% (Tied 15th)
72.73% (22nd)	The Penalty Kill	66.67% (Tied 27th)
Connor Hellebuyck (2-1-0 / .926 Sv%)	Starting Goalie	Pekka Rinne (1-1-0 / .921 Sv%)

Jets Notebook

• The Winnipeg Jets are coming off a convincing 2-1 victory against the Kings on Tuesday night. While the final score was close, the gameplay was not as the Jets out-shot Los Angeles 39-17.
• This is an important game for the Jets as they are playing their third Central Division opponent in the first four games. Even though it’s early, the Central Division is shaping up to be the toughest in hockey and the Jets will need to perform well against their own division.
• Kyle Connor has been the hottest Jet to start the year (and I don’t mean just the flow) with a goal in each game so far. This has made the Scheifele line extremely dangerous in the early going and will hopefully open up some opportunities for some other lines to contribute.

Predators Notebook

• Nashville is coming off a terrible home opener that saw them get shutout by the Calgary Flames after raising some controversial banners to the rafters.

The Predators were relentlessly mocked for raising a regrettable banner in their home opener: https://t.co/XBJGIysyhy pic.twitter.com/lnMk5xe0fp

— BarDown (@BarDown) October 10, 2018

•  At Jetsnation, we saw an opportunity to make a nice, little update to the banners for a more realistic portrayal.

Look, we may have been a bit too hard on the Predators here..

These are fine banners. Bold choice and again, we'd rather not see the Jets hang anything like them… But you do you Preds! pic.twitter.com/iMcIAPbkNr

— JetsNation (@NHLJetsNation) October 10, 2018

• All kidding aside, the Predators have got off to a decent start this year and it’s been led by the defense. PK Subban and Mattias Ekholm are leading the team in points as they both have a goal and two assists.
• The special teams have not been kind to the Predators in the early going. They are yet to score a power play goal in six attempts and their penalty kill is operating at 66.7% which puts them 27th in the league.
• The area that Nashville is excelling is their shots on goal. They are averaging 33 shots per game which puts them in the upper half of the league.

Player ratings courtesy Corsica.Hockey

Winnipeg Jets Lines

LW	C	RW	Forwards
KYLE CONNOR Rating: 77.1#19 LW	MARK SCHEIFELE Rating: 83.3#8 C	BLAKE WHEELER Rating: 81.2#4 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 80.53#6 FL1
NIKOLAJ EHLERS Rating: 75.5#31 LW	BRYAN LITTLE Rating: 73.4#69 C	PATRIK LAINE Rating: 81.6#3 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 76.85#2 FL2
KRISTIAN VESALAINEN	JACK ROSLOVIC Rating: 72.1#105 C	MATHIEU PERREAULT Rating: 74.4#35 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 73.23#5 FL3
ANDREW COPP Rating: 70.7#98 LW	ADAM LOWRY Rating: 72.9#83 C	BRANDON TANEV Rating: 70.5#102 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 71.33#10 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS		Defense
JOSH MORRISSEY Rating: 74.2#31 LD	JACOB TROUBA Rating: 77.2#17 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 75.70#16 DL1
BEN CHIAROT Rating: 71.2#84 LD	DUSTIN BYFUGLIEN Rating: 80.9#8 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 76.07#5 DL2
JOE MORROW Rating: 71.7#74 LD	TYLER MYERS Rating: 75.7#28 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 73.67#2 DL3

GOALIES
CONNOR HELLEBUYCK Rating: 76.8#9 G1	LAURENT BROSSOIT Rating: 69.3#56 G2

Nashville Predators Lines

LW	C	RW	Forwards
FILIP FORSBERG Rating: 82.5#6 LW	RYAN JOHANSEN Rating: 76.0#37 C	VIKTOR ARVIDSSON Rating: 78.6#9 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 79.02#12 FL1
KEVIN FIALA Rating: 75.6#30 LW	KYLE TURRIS Rating: 74.4#55 C	CRAIG SMITH Rating: 75.8#26 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 75.26#13 FL2
CALLE JARNKROK Rating: 72.6#90 LW	NICK BONINO Rating: 70.8#136 C	RYAN HARTMAN Rating: 72.5#59 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 71.97#18 FL3
MIIKKA SALOMAKI Rating: 69.1#127 LW	COLTON SISSONS Rating: 72.5#94 C	FREDERICK GAUDREAU Rating: 70.6#90 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 70.73#16 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS		Defense
ROMAN JOSI Rating: 81.4#1 LD	RYAN ELLIS Rating: 80.4#10 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 80.90#1 DL1
MATTIAS EKHOLM Rating: 77.2#10 LD	P.K. SUBBAN Rating: 81.1#6 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 79.14#1 DL2
ANTHONY BITETTO Rating: 68.5#123 LD	YANNICK WEBER Rating: 70.0#87 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 69.23#31 DL3

GOALIES
PEKKA RINNE Rating: 79.1#6 G1	JUUSE SAROS Rating: 74.4#20 G2

Be sure to check out our Twitter feed for any late mid-day updates to the game lineups!

Tonight’s officials

Referees: Frederick L’Ecuyer (17) & Ian Walsh (29)

Linesmen: Jonny Murray (95) & Pierre Racicot (65)