After a successful 4-1 victory in Pittsburgh the Winnipeg Jets are off to Nashville to take on the division worst Nashville Predators. Last night we got to see the first Kyle Connor Gordie Howe hat trick, as well the Jets would become the sixth team in NHL history to have 17 wins in their first 20 games. The 2013 Chicago Blackhawks did the same thing and won the Stanley Cup. The 2022-23 Boston Bruins were the last team to do this and ultimately lost in the first round to the Florida Panthers.
The Jets scorers should pad their scoring stats tonight against the Predators as they are the league-worst -20 goal differential and the Jets are a plus 37 goal differential. The league leading power play from the Jets  will be tested tonight as the one bright spot for the Predators is their penalty kill which is operating at a 91.3%, the best in the NHL.
Nashville should be hungry going into tonight’s game they are coming off a 3-0 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday, so they rested and have had some practice time. They have also dropped four of their last five with the one win coming last Sunday 5-3 over the Vancouver Canucks. But they have picked up points in three of their last five games.
Future hall of famer Connor Hellebuyck gets a night off tonight Eric Comrie will go between the pipes tonight for the Jets. He is looking to get back into the win column after allowing three goals against when playing the Tampa Bay Lightning back on November 14th. Through the season he is 3-1-0 with a 2.77 goals against average and a .909 save percentage. This is Comrie’s second start against Nashville. He lost his only game to them back on March 7th of this year when he was will with the Buffalo Sabres. He had an .833 save percentage that night and gave up four goals.
Juuse Saros is the expect starter tonight for Nashville. Although his team is having a down year he has still been stellar with a .917 save percentage and a 2.62 goals against average, unfortunately he only has five wins in 16 games this season. Against the Jets in his career he has a 6-6-3- record with a .923 save percentage and a 2.56 goals against average.
Going back to the Atlanta Thrashers days Steven Stamkos has tallied 32 goals and a total of 59 points against this organization.  The two time Stanley Cup winner has six goals and a total of 10 points this season.  In four games last year against Nashville Kyle Connor would score four goals and 6 points. Dylan DeMelo would put up a goal and two assists against the Preds as well.
The Jets have won their last 10 games against the West and the Predators have lost six of their last eight against the West. But the Jets shouldn’t shouldn’t feel that great going into tonight’s game at the Bridgestone Arena as the Predators have won their last eight Saturday night home games.
Injuries won’t be much of a worry for either team The predators are missing just Spencer Stastney and the Jets are still without Logan Stanley, Ville Heinola and Jaret Anderson-Dolan meaning the Jets are running back to their successful line-up.
Puck drop is set for 6:00 pm CT from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville Tennessee  you can catch the game on Sportsnet, 680 CJOB and Power 97.
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-Iafallo
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Fleury -Miller
Comrie
Hellebuyck