Game three of the ten game home stand sees a division rival come into town as the Colorado Avalanche pay a visit to Bell MTS Place. It’s the third of four meetings set for this season and the teams will meet in Winnipeg yet again in about two weeks.

The Jets have points earned in their last six games which in the always tight Central division is always a benefit, but it’s missing out on that second point in the overtime/shootout sessions that has kept them from creating any real separation with their division lead. Four of the last six games have gone past regulation time and only two of the last eight games they’ve played have been decided by more than a single goal. Lineup wise, at the morning skate it was expected that defenseman Dmitry Kulikov should draw back into the lineup taking the place of Tucker Poolman. Adam Lowry will be sitting out tonight’s game with an upper body injury.

The Avs squeeked out a 4-3 overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers which snapped a three game losing streak and they did so without All-Star forward Nathan MacKinnon who is going to be out for the next 2 to 4 weeks with an injury. Despite the three game losing streak, the Avs are 7-2-1 in their last ten games. In goal, Jonathan Bernier has been carrying most of the load for the Avs, but it would appear that Semyon Varlamov will get the start tonight for Colorado.

This is the third meeting of four total between the Avs and Jets, with Colorado having picked up a pair of 3-2 overtime wins in Denver so far. The teams had met a month ago with the Jets needing Blake Wheeler to carry them to a third period comeback scoring very early in the period and then very late in regulation to force overtime. Connor Hellebuyck was the goalie in both games and has a career 2-1-2 record against the Avs with a .927 save percentage.

After going up against a pair of division leaders earlier this week, the Jets can’t afford to take this game too lightly as the Avalanche are still a strong club even without their number one center. Jets take care of business and do so with a little room to spare, winning tonight’s game 4-1.