JGD 28: Jets Aim to Extend Winning Streak Versus Blackhawks

I think we all had forgetten what a winning streak feels like. Fells pretty good. 

The Jets will look to keep the good feeling going today against the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks. 

The Jets and Blackhawks will meet twice in the next six days, both games being in Chicago. The Jets have played the Blackhawks once already this season; a 3-1 Jets win at the MTS Centre. 

The Jets are coming off a huge 2-1 overtime win against the Washington Capitals, one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Andrew Ladd scored the lone goal in regulation for the Jets and Mark Scheifele was the overtime hero. Budding superstar Connor ‘big and boring’ Hellebuyck was almost unbeatable, stopping 37 of 38 shots faced. 

The Blackhawks, on the other hand, have been struggling as of late. They’ve dropped their last three and five of their last seven. They’ll certainly come out fired up tonight at home in the Mad House. 

No lineup changes for the Jets. Don’t fix what isn’t broken.

Adam Lowry has been a solid presence since being reinserted to the lineup. He’s been very physical and has been giving the fourth line some added energy. 

The bottom six as a whole has been much better as of late and have started to make things happen. It hasn’t been translating too much in goals just yet, but look for that to come if they keep up their solid play.

No changes to the Jets defense either. 

Trouba has been starting to come alive as of late. He’s looked much more noticeable and had the nice assist on Scheifele’s overtime winner against Washington. 

Nothing is confirmed yet but I would expect Hellebuyck to get the start again today for obvious reasons. Hot Taek: He is the best Connor in the NHL.

Bryan Bickell will make his first start for the Blackhawks since being recalled from the AHL. He’s played extremely well down in the AHL and the Blackhawks have brought him back up in the hopes of giving some new life into the Hawks bottom six, which has been very stagnant as of late. 

One player who hasn’t been stagnant is Patrick Kane. He is still on that ridiculous point streak of his. Who better to stop that than the Jets?

It’s really interesting that the Hawks choose to go with two left-handed defensemen and two right-handed defensemen together. Usually Hjalmarsson is with Seabrook but Trevor van Riemsdyk, as with all young players, has been in a bit of a rut lately. It’s hard for a young guy to be partners with Keith as he plays so many minutes. 

Corey Crawford will get the start for the Hawks. 

Crawford has been struggling lately as well. In his last five games, he is just 2-2-1 with a 3.03 GAA and a .890 save percentage. Look for the Jets to challenge him early and often.