JGD 20: Jets head to Beantown to face Bruins

Winnipeg Jets

• Marko Dano and Nic Petan have showed that they deserve to stay with the Jets for the rest of the season, there’s no doubt about that. But with Drew Stafford and Bryan Little seemingly close to a return, the young forwards call-up stints may be shortened with the Jets. If Dano and Petan want to earn a full-time spot, they’ll have to continue to play excellent for the Jets management to make the uncomfortable decision of keeping them over favoured players like Alex Burmistrov and Chris Thorburn. 
• Dustin Byfuglien scored his first goal of the season in his 19th game of the year against the Philadelphia Flyers. Now, to an outsider that may seem like ‘Big Buff’ has been struggling this season, but that’s far from the truth. Byfuglien leads the entire NHL in ice-time per night while average 28:22 per contest and his 51 shots on goal is 5th amongst defenseman. Byfuglien and Josh Morrissey have been a very solid top pairing for the Jets to start out the year and with both D finally getting their first goals of the season, we could see a rise in their offensive productivity as well. 
• The Jets third line could end up to be the team’s fourth line when all the Jets bodies come back. It’s safe to say Andrew Copp has won himself a spot back with the Jets and Tanev and Lowry are very quality bottom six players to compile a fourth line.
• It’s not much of a surprise that Michael Hutchinson is between the pipes tonight. While it seems that Hellebuyck has asserted himself as the Jets starting goaltender, an unlucky team performance in Philadelphia hindered his game and he’s due for a break. Plus, Hutchinson will be facing off against the team that drafted him 77th overall in the 2008 draft. 
• Interesting stat to digest; The Jets are 6-0 when having the lead after the second period.

Boston Bruins 

• David Pastrnak is out with an upper-body injury tonight and that’s a big blow to the Bruins. The talented  20 year-old forward has 14 points in his last 14 games and is the Bruins second leading scorer. 
• Tukka Rask is between the pipes for the Bruins tonight and that’s no surprise. Rask is off to a phenomenal start with the Bruins and his numbers back it up. Rask is tied for the league lead in wins with 10 and his goals against average of 1.49 places second along with a .947 save percentage that’s 3rd among goaltenders. 
• The Bruins may have some matchup difficulties tonight. The Jets top line of Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine is going to be tough to contain.