JGD 25: Jets Look For Revenge Against Colorado Avalanche

If anyone read yesterday’s game preview, you will understand why I am so happy right now. 

Not only did the Jets win 3-1 against a Minnesota Wild team who have been dominant at home and just had Zach Parise return to the lineup, but Connor Hellebuyck ended up making his NHL debut with his first NHL start and grabbed his first NHL win. 

In turn, he also made my ‘not so obvious’ prediction come true, as he posted a .933 save percentage, stopping 14 of 15 shots. 

Oh, and Nik ‘good at hockey’ Ehlers scored the insurance goal on a beautiful breakaway to put the icing on the cake.

It was a good night. 

Tonight, the Jets have a chance to get a little bit of revenge. 

The Jets travel to Colorado tonight to face the Avalanche. This will be the second time these two divisional rivals meet so far this season. These two teams met just five days ago in Winnipeg, where the Avalanche dominated the Jets 4-1. 

The Jets played a much better team game last night against the Wild. We saw all five players on the ice at once make a commitment to playing good team defense and supporting each other at both ends of the ice. Hopefully, this is a trend that continues into tonight’s game. 

The Jets forwards were shutout the last time they played the Avalanche. Tobias Enstrom had the lone goal for the Jets.

Matthieu Perreault and Nik Ehlers had goals last night in Minnesota. 

Captain Andrew Ladd is leading the team in shots (10) and tied for the team lead in points (3) over the last 3 games. Linemate Blake Wheeler also has 3 points in the last 3 games. 

I have a lot of respect for Mark Stuart and his career, but when do the Jets decide it’s best to sit him down?It’s been really hard to find any positives in his game lately. 

Dustin Byfuglien added a goal and an assist last night against the Wild and has 3 points in the last 3 games. 

The starter for tonight has yet to be determined. 

It’s a back-to-back so it would make sense that we see Hutchinson tonight. However, don’t be surprised if Hellebuyck gets the call again tonight. He looked very strong last night and Hutchinson hasn’t played particularly well lately. 

Nathan Mackinnon leads the team with 23 points and Matt Duchene leads the team with 11 goals through 22 games. Mackinnon and McLeod are the only Avs forwards that have played all 22 games that have a positive +/- rating. 

The Avs are still without John Mitchell (oblique) and Alex Tanguay (knee). 

Andrew Agozzino was just recalled from San Antonio and will make his season debut tonight. He has only one game of NHL experience on his resume, but did record an assist in that game. 

Tyson Barrie leads all Avs defenseman with 14 points (1 goal, 13 assists). 

Francois Beauchemin has been a very steadying presence on the blue line for the Avs. He’s also been making his impact offensively as well, recording 2 goals and 10 assists so far this season. 

Despite being chased from the net after allowing 3 goals on 15 shots during the Avs 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators, head coach Patrick Roy is going back to his number one goaltender Semyon Varlamov. Roy expressed faith in Varlamov as he will start his third consecutive game for the Avs tonight.