A day after both the Jets and Canucks did that hockey thing in Alberta – with somewhat different results – both teams hopped on planes and headed east where they’ll play their second game in as many nights as they meet up at Bell MTS Place for Sunday Night Hockey.

The Jets got back into action with a 2-1 shootout win over the Calgary Flames in a game where they looked a lot faster – a stride or two quicker we’d say – against the Flames than they had previously looked against the Blackhawks or Wild going into the break. Mathieu Perreault had the Jets lone goal in regulation time – a nice redirection of a Bryan Little shot that tied things up in the second period. Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves in the game and stopped both Calgary shootout attempts while Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler did the scoring in the skills competition.

This is the last game of a seven game road trip for the Canucks – which was broken up by a week long break, meaning the Canucks haven’t had a home game since Janurary 2nd. It’s been an ok trip all things considered as the team has gone 2-3-1 during it including an impressive win in Columbus and a clutch OT win in Minnesota. Vancouver is still a bit banged up as they just got Brandon Sutter back from injury and are still (possibly) without Bo Horvat who is likely a gametime decision.

Winnipeg has taken both games the teams have played against each other, the Jets taking game one in Vancouver by a 4-2 score early in the start of the season, and then a little more recently putting a 5-1 beat down on them on December 11 with a 5-1 victory in Winnipeg. Jacob Markstrom was the goalie in both of those games and while he has his moments of stellar play, did not look good in either game against the Jets. Markstrom played last night in Edmonton, so it could be Anders Nilsson who gets the start for the Nucks today.

The Jets were able to get a late afternoon flight out of Calgary and get home as a reasonable time – probably right about when the Canucks were in the middle of their game against the Oilers. We don’t want to overstate the effect of travel on these players, but it’s got to be a bit of an advantage for the Jets today. That and the fact the Jets are a better team really. Jets win this game 5-2.