JGD #59: Playoff Push heads to Washington

The Winnipeg Jets continue the playoff push as the head to the American capital to face Alex Ovechkin and friends. The Jets have 23 games remaining in the regular season. The magic numbers according to Sports Club Stats are:

The Jets enter today’s game still holding onto the first Wild Card spot in the west with a record of 30-19-10, good enough for fourth in the Central Division and fifth in the Western Conference. The Washington Capitals meanwhile sit in the exact same spot in the east with a 31-17-10 record. Both teams enter today with a two-game win streak, although only the Capitals have a winning record over their last ten games.

Lines provided by DailyFaceoff.com

With the Mathieu Perreault injury, the Jets move back to dressing seven strong possession players. There are rumours that AHL call-up Carl Klingberg may sit in the pressbox and Jets dress seven defensemen.

The Jets defensive pairings remain unchanged. If they do decide to go with seven defensemen, expect Adam Pardy to be the one in. Also, if the game is close in the third, look for Paul Maurice sitting Ben Chiarot and Mark Stuart while pairing Jacob Trouba with Dustin Byfuglien.

According to the morning skate set-up, Ondrej Pavelec will get his first start in three games. Pavelec has a record of 13-12-7 with a save percentage of 0.910.

The Capitals offense is driven by the elite pairing of Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. Ovechkin leads his team with 37 goals in 58 games. Meanwhile, Backstrom leads his team with 44 assists and 60 points in 58 games.

Like the Jets, the Capitals are overloaded with high-end right-handed defender depth. Luckily the Jets have some elite depth on the left wing like Evander K.. I mean Mathieu Per… Well we have one great guy named Andrew Ladd!

Look for Braden Holtby to play his 50th game of the season. Holtby has been dominating the league with a 0.924 save percentage.

Game Day Predictions: Jets always will be predicted to win. We are a Jets blog.

Obvious Predictions: Pavelec lets a few from Ovechkin. Pavelec doesn’t have the greatest history with Ovechkin.

Not So Obvious Predictions: The Jets offense will come from the third line. Haha that’s bold.

The Nation Gear store has the Jets Nation’s new shirt:

Shipping is free in Canada and a portion of the proceeds go to Earth Group.

You can buy the shirt here.