The Jets kept their fans happy on Thursday night, winning a 2-1 win tight checking game at home against the Seattle Kraken. Tonight, on “Hockey Day in Canada” the Jets will conclude their season long 8 game home stand with a visit from the Calgary Flames. There will be live multilingual webcasts for all the Canadian teams in action tonight, including the Jets, which will be available in Cree on APTN. The Flames enter tonight’s game following back to back losses on the road against the St. Louis Blues. Both teams will be looking to pick up a much needed win as the 4 Nations face off tournament break approaches in less than a month.

At the top of the NHL standings you will still see the Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals tied at 65 points. The Flames are doing better than most people predicted they would before the season started, currently sitting 15th overall in the standings with a 21-16-7 record. The two teams have only met once this season, on October 26th, when the Jets won 5-3 in Calgary. However, these two teams have been equally matched in their last 10 games head-to-head, splitting the wins with 5 each.

Fans continue to wonder when more injury updates will be available for the handful of Jets away from game action. At the optional practice yesterday, Mason Appleton and Vlad Namestnikov skated with the team for the 1st time since their injuries. Haydn Fleury and Colin Miller were also skating, as their returns seem to be getting closer and closer. The coaches will speak to the medical staff this morning to see which players will be ready to return to the lineup tonight against the Flames.

The projected starting goalies for tonight’s all Canadian matchup are Dustin Wolf and Connor Hellebuyck. Wolf’s 1st full season in the NHL has been a major success story for the Flames, posting great numbers and pretty much earning the starting job at this point in the season. Wolf’s career numbers currently sit at 23-14-3 with a .907 save percentage. On the other side of the crease you should expect to see Connor Hellebuyck. The Flames have had problems scoring all year, ranking 27th in the league in scoring, so this game has the potential to be a good one for Hellebuyck. The Jets will eventually need to give Comrie more starts as the season goes on, but for now they can continue to roll with the NHL’s number 1 goalie in almost all the important statistics.

Tonight’s “player to watch” from the Jets is Mark Scheifele. The Kitchener native leads the Jets with 6 goals in the last 10 games. Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi are close behind with 5 goals each, but Scheifele has been scoring all kinds of ways recently, including on the Jets top 5 in the league powerplay. The 1st line continues to carry the Jets offence, so expect Scheifele to have another good performance against the Flames.

Puck drop for tonight’s Saturday night matchup is at 6:00 pm CT. Following this game, the Jets will play Utah twice and the Avalanche before the Jets and Flames meet again in Winnipeg on January 26th. Compared to the slower game against the Kraken on Thursday, I expect tonight’s game to be fairly action packed with goals, penalties and all sorts of other hockey plays as the country watches on “Hockey Day in Canada”. Remember to check back here post game for an instant reaction and recap on tonight’s game, as we will find out if the Jets can extend their current winning streak to 4 games.

Connor – Scheifele – Vilardi

Ehlers – Lowry – Iafallo

Niederreiter – Kupari – Perfetti

Toninato – Gustafsson – Barron

Morrissey – DeMelo

Samberg – Pionk

Stanley – Heinola

Hellebuyck

Comrie

Injured: Fleury (lower body), Appleton (lower body), Miller (fractured larynx), and Namestnikov (lower body)