JGD 20: Canucks Vist Jets And One of Them Threatens To Win A Game

The 2-6-1 road trip from hell may now be all behind us, but plenty of doubt remains if the Winnipeg Jets will ever win a game as they lead off a three game home stand tonight against the Vancouver Canucks.

The Canucks are at the end of their road trip which has been almost as painful to witness (if you’re a Canucks fan of course) going 1-3-2 and currently on a three game losing streak.

A struggling team is going to win this game! At least, we think one will… Given how fates have worked out for these two teams lately, don’t be shocked if the NHL just rules this game a tie.

Provided by DailyFaceoff.com

The Jets had a really great thing going with the line of Ladd, Little and Wheeler but the remaining three lines were slumping badly, so Paul Maurice got the blender out and mixed up lines with various results. The team also didn’t practice on Tuesday so there still may be a bit of gelling to do with the new lines before we see any solid results. (Looking at you Ladd, Scheifele & Ehlers)

At this point when it comes to the Jets defense, the coaching staff is just throwing stuff to a wall and seeing what sticks. The addition of Pardy seemed to spark a bit more physical play out of the unit.

As it stands, the Jets goaltending can be summed up in one tweet:

Alexandre Burrows may or may not be in the lineup tonight after missing Monday’s contest versus the Habs for “personal reasons” which likely was attending the birth of his child back home. This may surprise you, but the Sedin brothers lead the team in scoring as Daniel has six goals and 17 points while Henrik has five goals and 14 points.

Alex Edler leads the way for Canucks defensemen with four goals and nine points in 18 games played. He’s also tenth in defensemen league wide in average time on ice with 24:46 so expect to see a ton of him tonight.

No word as of the time that this little ditty was thrown together on who the Canucks were starting. Markstrom started on Monday in the Canucks 4-3 OT loss to Montreal and while he wasn’t great with a .889 save percentage, he also faced a barrage of pressure late in the game. Miller will likely draw in tonight but his numbers this season have been a bit MEH (.912 Save% and 2.48 GAA) and as an added kick in the gut, he’s on a personal five game winless streak. (Last win was November 2 against the Flyers)

Our *friends* over at Canucks Army do a weekly ranking of players which we would totally do here as well if it wasn’t for the fact you’d get tired of us putting Ehlers at number one every week.

At any rate they had Radim Verbata at their bottom of their list at number 23:

Game Day Prediction: If we keep picking them to win, we’ll eventually be right, right? Jets win in OT 2-1

Obvious Prediction: A Sedin will score. (This prediction almost always never fails!)

Not So Obvious Prediction: If Jets give up more than three goals by the end of the second period, expect an exasperated Paul Maurice to put Mick-E-Moose on the blue line with Tobias Enstrom to start the third period.