Washington Capitals (25-18-2) Vs.

Your Winnipeg Jets (24-19-3)

 

Last Meeting:

March 22nd, Jets 1 – Capitals 6

 

Broadcast:

TV: TSN Jets

Puck Drop: 6:00 (CT)

 

Here it is. The game that Jets management, Jets players, Jets coaches, and Jets fans have had circled on their calendars for weeks. It’s already been said today by many, players included, but this is the biggest game of the year.

A win tonight in regulation or overtime will pull the Jets ahead of the Washington Capitals for the Southeast Division lead, ahead of the Ottawa Senators in points, potentially ahead of the New York Rangers in points, and potentially tied with the New York Islanders in points (they would remain ahead based on games played). All of them will have a game in hand on the Jets following tonight, but being ahead is what matters right now.

A loss, in regulation or overtime would officially hand Washington the Southeast title (a shootout loss leaves a glimmer of hope), and a regulation loss combined with one more win by the Rangers, or Sens or a mere point from the Islanders ends the Jets playoff hopes.

It really does not get much bigger than this.

It’s not going to be an easy matchup. The Jets have lost many players to injury as of late (Bogo, Jokinen, Wellwood, Enstrom), and the Caps have been firing on all cylinders, (9-1-0 in thier last 10). The Jets are unfortunately on the second half of a back to back, and are on the road. Yet if there is one thing I have learnt about these Winnipeg Jets, it’s that more often then not they manage to truly compete when they really need to.

Ladd – Little – Wheeler

Kane – Wright – Antropov?

Tangradi – Burmistrov – Santorelli

Thorburn – Gagnon – Miettinen

 

Meech – Byfuglien

Hainsey – Clitsome

Postma – Stuart

 

Pavelec

Montoya

Wellwood suffered what looked and sounds like a broken hand in Buffalo last night, so add another name to the Jets injury pile. There have been rumors that Antro will be ready to make his return tonight, but I don’t think Noel is going to want to break up the Burmi line, so it looks like Kane is stuck with the subpar line once again. The real test is going to be the battered and bruised blue line trying to control the Ovie line all night. No easy task on a regular night, but with Ovechkin clicking at the level he has been of late, it is going to be quite the challenge.

Ovechkin – Backstrom – Johansson

Brouwer – Ribeiro – Erat

Volpatti – Hendricks – Beagle

Chimera – Perreault – Fehr

 

Hillen – Oleksy

Alzner – Green

Erskine – Carlson

 

Holtby

Neuvirth

 

The Caps power play is a juggernaut. The Jets penalty kill is…. not a juggernaut. Spending time in the penalty box is a sure way to throw this game away.

 

Easier said than done. Ovechkin has been an absolute monster over the last 20 games. Heck, he leads the NHL with 30 goals, and has 7 points in his last four games. Good thing he’s washed up.

 

Coming off of an intense win last night, the Jets are going to need to come in with a lot of energy and desire to silence the crowd. Scoring early will not only get the crowd going, but it will plant that seed of doubt in the Jets minds that is sure to slow their legs.

 

I’ve mentioned it a few times already, but the Jets are injury-rattled right now. Use your home ice advantage to your benefit and make the support guys of the Jets win this game against your scorers.

 

They don’t play tonight, but it is worth mentioning how big the Sens loss was last night. With three games left Ottawa plays Washington, Philadelphia, and Boston to close out the season which really opens up an opportunity for them to fall out of the top eight.

 

The Islanders have a pretty easy road from here on out, but the Jets do hold the ROW tiebreaker between the two teams. They are still within reach and could collapse, so hope for Carolina to play a major spoiler role.

 

Last time we prayed for the Panthers they got ripped by this Rangers team 6-1. The Rangers have the benefit of getting their swagger back over this last stretch of games against some pretty bad teams, and I really do not think they are going to fall off. That being said, they are still only a point up on the Jets, so we can always hope for a miracle.