JNGD.S8.G45 Flight Plan: Niku Gets Another Shot As Jets Host Ducks

5 years ago

The Anaheim Ducks come into town having lost their last ten games in a row with recent back to back losses to the likes of the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators, but yet this is still a team that can’t be overlooked as the Jets have had their own struggles as of late even having won three of their last four games. With Vegas coming to town for a 2018 Western Conference championship rematch on Tuesday, today’s game has all the makings of a proverbial “trap game”.

Anaheim Ducks (19-18-8 / 4th Pacific)
@
Winnipeg Jets (28-14-2 / 2nd Central)

January 13, 2019 – Puck drop: 4:00 PM CST
Bell MTS Place – Winnipeg, MB
TV: CBC – Radio: TSN 1290


vs PIT: 7-4 Loss	Last Game	@ MIN: 3-2 Loss
0-3-2 (1 L)	Last 5 Games	2-3-0 (1 L)
Jakob Silfverberg – 12	Goal Leader	Scheifele / Laine – 24
Ryan Getzlaf – 21	Assist Leader	Blake Wheeler – 49
Ryan Getzlaf – 31	Points Leader	Blake Wheeler – 57
14.29% (28th)	The Power Play	27.94% (2nd)
80.26% (14th)	The Penalty Kill	80.00% (15th)
John Gibson (15-14-7 / .920 SV%)	Starting Goalie	Connor Hellebuyck (19-13-1 / .908 SV%)
L vs PIT (29-35 / .829 SV%)	Last Goalie Start	L @ MIN (19-22/ .864 SV%)
9-11-0 on road	Road v Home Record	16-6-2 @ home

Ducks Coach To Watch

Randy Carlyle

When your hockey club loses ten games in a row, even being an accomplished former player and long time NHL coach doesn’t save you from sitting in the hottest of seats with calls for your job to be ended and questions lobbed at you in post-game scrums about how secure your job really is. Such is the situation former Jets defenseman Randy Carlyle find himself in as he angrily shut down his last post-game presser referring to a question about his future with the Anaheim Ducks.

With one more loss tonight against the Jets, it’s not unreasonable to think that Carlyle;;s second stint as Ducks head coach could come to an abrupt end.

**Randy Carlyle’s coaching record**
		Regu	Regu	Regu	Regu	Regu	Regu	Regu	Play	Play	Play
Season	Tm	GP	W	L	OL	PTS	PTS%	Finish	G	W	L
2005-06	MDA	82	43	27	12	98	.598	3rd	16	9	7
2006-07	ANA	82	48	20	14	110	.671	1st	21	16	5
2007-08	ANA	82	47	27	8	102	.622	2nd	6	2	4
2008-09	ANA	82	42	33	7	91	.555	2nd	13	7	6
2009-10	ANA	82	39	32	11	89	.543	4th
2010-11	ANA	82	47	30	5	99	.604	2nd	6	2	4
2011-12	ANA	24	7	13	4	18	.375	5th
2011-12	TOR	18	6	9	3	15	.417	4th
2012-13	TOR	48	26	17	5	57	.594	3rd	7	3	4
2013-14	TOR	82	38	36	8	84	.512	6th
2014-15	TOR	40	21	16	3	45	.563	7th
2016-17	ANA	82	46	23	13	105	.640	1st	17	10	7
2017-18	ANA	82	44	25	13	101	.616	2nd	4	0	4
2018-19	ANA	45	19	18	8	46	.511	4th
Career		913	473	326	114	1060	.581		90	49	41

Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table

Last Ducks Game

Carlyle wasn’t wrong when he said his team stopped skating in the second period of their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, blowing a 3-0 lead going into the second period and ultimately losing 7-4.

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Ducks Notebook

Tonight is the start of a five game road trip for the Ducks heading into the NHL All-Star break.
One week ago, Ducks GM Bob Murray became just the fifth ever person to have played 1,000 games as an NHL player and remain general manager for 1,000. His Ducks have made the playoffs six seasons in a row – a stretch that could be in a bit of jeopardy this season.
The Ducks are 30th in the league in goals per game with 2.36. Their team defense is at least a little bit better, led by the All-Star efforts of John Gibson who has faced an average of 29 shots per game this season and sports a rather impressive .920 save percentage.

Jets Player To Watch

#83 Sami Niku – Defense

It was a bit of a rough game the other night against the Red Wings, but one could forgive it being how little Niku has played over the last few weeks and add to the fact that he was playing mostly beside Joe Morrow who is a bit of an anchor on the blue line to carry around. He’ll draw back into the lineup again tonight as Tyler Myers is still out with a lower body injury and one has to think he’ll want to make a better impression than he did in the last game.

The kid has the ability, we all saw it last season in the AHL, now he just needs a fair shot in the NHL to prove it.

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Last Jets Game

Winnipeg scored very early and very late in the first period to gain a 2-0 advantage and then hung on a bit the rest of the game out as the squeaked out a 4-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night.

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Jets Notebook

The Jets have won three in a row at home and also sport the best power play mark (36.6%) at home in the league as well.
Winnipeg is 8-3-1 against Pacific division teams this season after having gone 17-4-2 last season against teams from the weaker of the two Western conference divisions.
Four players are on four game point streaks. Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor are hardly a surprise to be in this group and given how he’s played the last month or so it’s not shocking to see Bryan Little’s name there either. Brandon Tanev though is a definite surprise though as he has two goals and two assists in the last four games, the last two of which have seen him score goals.

Player ratings courtesy Corsica.Hockey

Be sure to check out our Twitter feed for any late mid-day updates to the game lineups!
You can also get up to the minute lineup combos for the Jets
including power play and penalty kill lines by checking out our line combo page.

Anaheim Ducks Lines

LW	C	RW	Forwards
RICKARD RAKELL Rating: 78.6#13 LW	RYAN GETZLAF Rating: 77.8#29 C	DANIEL SPRONG Rating: 74.6#42 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 77.02#18 FL1
ANDREW COGLIANO Rating: 70.3#159 LW	RYAN KESLER Rating: 72.2#103 C	JAKOB SILFVERBERG Rating: 73.6#43 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 72.02#26 FL2
NICK RITCHIE Rating: 72.7#61 LW	ADAM HENRIQUE Rating: 73.4#72 C	ONDREJ KASE Rating: 77.7#22 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 74.60#3 FL3
KIEFER SHERWOOD Rating: 70.6#105 LW	CARTER ROWNEY Rating: 69.2#178 C	BRIAN GIBBONS Rating: 69.7#169 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 69.81#24 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS		Defense
HAMPUS LINDHOLM Rating: 76.1#20 LD	BRANDON MONTOUR Rating: 75.6#26 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 75.85#13 DL1
CAM FOWLER Rating: 76.7#14 LD	JOSH MANSON Rating: 74.9#28 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 75.80#4 DL2
JACOB LARSSON Rating: 71.2#94 LD	JAKE DOTCHIN Rating: 70.6#82 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 70.89#24 DL3

GOALIES
JOHN GIBSON Rating: 80.3#3 G1	CHAD JOHNSON Rating: 64.3#72 G2

Winnipeg Jets Lines

LW	C	RW	Forwards
KYLE CONNOR Rating: 75.9#28 LW	MARK SCHEIFELE Rating: 86.2#4 C	BLAKE WHEELER Rating: 81.2#7 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 81.08#5 FL1
PATRIK LAINE Rating: 79.5#10 LW	BRYAN LITTLE Rating: 73.8#60 C	JACK ROSLOVIC Rating: 70.3#97 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 74.55#14 FL2
MATHIEU PERREAULT Rating: 73.0#86 LW	ADAM LOWRY Rating: 73.0#85 C	BRANDON TANEV Rating: 71.9#71 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 72.62#12 FL3
BRENDAN LEMIEUX Rating: 73.4#47 LW	ANDREW COPP Rating: 72.6#91 C	MASON APPLETON Rating: 72.4#67 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 72.81#1 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS		Defense
JOSH MORRISSEY Rating: 75.4#24 LD	JACOB TROUBA Rating: 77.3#19 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 76.39#9 DL1
DMITRY KULIKOV Rating: 70.7#103 LD	BEN CHIAROT Rating: 71.0#77 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 70.89#28 DL2
SAMI NIKU Rating: 72.3#64 LD	JOE MORROW Rating: 70.9#78 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 71.59#15 DL3