It’s Hockey Day in Canada and it’s the return of Winnipeg Jets hockey back into our lives! The Jets get back into the swing of things taking on another team that is coming off it’s five day mandated break in the Calgary Flames.

The two teams coming off their breaks and facing each other isn’t coincidence, the NHL made the change this season for clubs coming off their five day break to face a club in a similar situation based on the fact that teams coming off their break last season went 10-16-4.

Last weekend before the break was a bit of a tough go for them as they dropped losses in Chicago and then the following night in Minnesota. The break came as a pretty decent time for them as they have been hit by a bit of an injury bug. Brandon Tanev will return to the lineup today for the Jets, but they are still going to be without Mark Scheifele and Adam Lowry at center. The Jets are also going to goalie this weekend like it’s 2016-17 as Steve Mason has been ruled out with a concussion. They brought back Michael Hutchinson and he’ll likely be the backup today and then we’ll see if he gets a chance in net on Sunday against Vancouver.

Things have been good for the Flames going into the break as they rattled off a seven game win streak, the last four of those wins done through a southeast road trip that included an impressive 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Micheal Ferland have been nearly dominant with 10 goals and 32 points between the three of them during the seven game streak and their goaltending has been nothing short of spectacular. One thing to watch for though is that they have been out-shot in each of the four games and that is something the Jets can take advantage of, they will just need to solve Mike Smith.

Their last meeting was the Jets second game of the season and while it started off ok for Winnipeg in the first part of the first period, they fell apart quickly and ended up losing by a 6-3 score which led to the team giving Connor Hellebuyck a shot the following game against Edmonton. The Jets have now only manages one win over the Flames in the last six meetings, but it was a 2-0 Hellebuyck shutout that happened a little over a year ago.

Here is hoping it’s the Flames that have forgotten a bit how to hockey and not the Jets. Either way it should be a pretty good contest and one that the Jets sneak out with a 4-3 win.