After a five day break that felt like five months, especially after the drama with lines and AHL re-assignments and guys taken off of injured reserve, the Jets get back into action with a date against the defending Stanley Cup Champs.

Just in case you needed the refresher since it’s been a while, the Jets have won four of their last five games which is not too shabby. Granted they haven’t been “soaring” in those games, but at the end of the season they don’t as “how?” just “how many?” Their last game was a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild that saw Connor Hellebuyck win his fourth start in a row. Tonight Hellebuyck goes for a career best fifth win.

Happy Matt Hendricks Day! The veteran forward will make his debut with the Jets tonight as all of Winnipeg rejoices… Or something like that. Hendricks has 49 goals and 100 points in 521 career games, which doesn’t exactly explain how he’s going to help the Jets forward depth in terms of chipping in some much needed offense, but we’re sure Paul Maurice has that all figured out already.

One player who doesn’t need help with offense right now is Nik Ehlers who has six goals and eight points in his first seven games played. Scoring hasn’t been much of an issue at all with any of the top Jet forwards as Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler also have eight points on the season, while Patrik Laine started getting on track with a pair of goals against the Wild.

Winners of four of their last five games, the Penguins are seemingly picking up right where they left off last season – with maybe that 7-1 loss they had against the Lightning the lone exception to the rule. Their last game was on Tuesday night against the Edmonton Oilers which they won in overtime by a 2-1 score after Phil Kessel scored 42 seconds into the overtime session. Tonight is the final home game the Pens will have before taking off for a western Canadian road trip.

The Penguins are dealing with a couple of injuries, the biggest right now is the concussion suffered by defenseman Justin Schultz. Carter Rowney and Matt Hunwick are also MIA for the Pens. As such, the team called up Frank Corrado this morning, but it’s uncertain as of publishing time if he’ll be in the lineup.

Last season there was a bit of bad blood between the teams despite the lack of familiarity and playing time against each other. Most notably, everyone remembers the fight that took place between two noted thugs, Blake Wheeler and Evgeni Malkin.

Shifting the focus to on-ice results, the Jets simply have not done well against the Penguins almost ever. They were 0-1-1 in the two games them last season (an OTL in Pittsburgh and a 7-4 drubbing at home) and since their move to Winnipeg the Jets are 3-10-2 Against the Pens. Maybe the most damning fact between the two clubs is that the Penguins have won their last 16 games at home against the Thrashers/Jets franchise.

The only Jet to have any real success against Pittsburgh is tonight’s back up goalie Steve Mason. Made has a respectable 9-5-1 record which includes two shutouts and a .923 save percentage. After tonight’s game, the Jets next meeting with the Pens is this Sunday.

The Jets have had plenty of rest the last while, but that may hinder them against a team playing as well as the Penguins are. Pittsburgh is so good and has a ton of firepower and honestly there is no reason to see why their dominance against the Jets at home won’t continue. Penguins win 5-2.