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It&#8217;s Winnipeg Jets game day once again on this Monday night. The Jets continue their 6 game road trip against Central division rivals, the Minnesota Wild. Not only is this game a battle of division rivals, but it&#8217;s also a battle of the top 2 teams in the NHL standings at the quarter season mark. The 1st place Jets are 17-4-0, while the 2nd place Wild are not too far behind, siting at 13-3-4.
Tonight&#8217;s game will be the 2nd matchup between these two teams this season. The Jets took the 1st one in Winnipeg early in the season by a score of 2-1 in overtime. The big news from the Jets this week was that Dylan Samberg will be out of the Jets lineup for a while, after suffering a broken foot while blocking a shot last game against the Nashville Predators.
Replacing Dylan Samberg in the Jets lineup will be Ville Heinola, who was recalled yesterday from his conditioning stint with the Manitoba Moose. During practice this morning, it looked like Heinola was skating with Colin Miller on the 3rd pairing, which means that Haydn Fleury will be moved up to the 2nd defence pairing with Neal Pionk. Samberg&#8217;s injury leaves a big hole in the Jets top 4 defence, so tonight will be a good test for Fleury to see if he can handle top 4 minutes in the short term.
The Wild continue to be without one of their top forwards in Mats Zuccarello, who needed surgery earlier this month. Some good news for Wild fans was announced recently, as it appears star forward Kirill Kaprizov has avoided any kind of serious injury. The team is reportedly managing Kaprizov&#8217;s health day by day, and it is unconfirmed at the moment (a game-time decision) if he will try to suit up for tonight&#8217;s game.
Like most heavyweight matchups in the NHL, special teams will be something to watch for tonight. You probably know by now that the Jets number 1 powerplay has contributed to their success in a majority of their wins this season. The penalty kill however has begun to struggle as of late, as a once top 10 ranked penalty kill has fallen to 21st in the league.
The Wild on the other hand, haven&#8217;t really relied on their special teams much at all despite their successful start to the season. A goal differential of +19 (69 to 50) indicates that the Wild have grinded out several close low scoring games this season. The goaltending duo of Filip Gustavsson (starting tonight) and Marc-Andre Fleury (with Jesper Wallstedt continuing to develop well) has been a big part of the reason why the Wild have won more hockey games than they&#8217;ve lost.
The Wild penalty kill is 28th in the league though, so the number 1 Jets power play needs to capitalize on their chances tonight if they want to win this game. Overall, I expect this game to be a low scoring, high intensity contest between 2 teams exceeding their pre-season expectations at the quarter season mark. Puck drop is at 7:00 pm CT, and make sure to check back here on Jets Nation for an instant reaction / recap to tonight&#8217;s anticipated matchup.
Jets projected lineup
Connor &#8211; Scheifele &#8211; Vilardi
Perfetti &#8211; Namestnikov &#8211; Ehlers
Niederreiter &#8211; Lowry &#8211; Appleton
Barron &#8211; Kupari &#8211; Iafallo
Morrissey &#8211; DeMelo
Fleury &#8211; Pionk
Heinola &#8211; Miller
Hellebuyck
Comrie
&nbsp;

Follow us on our Jets Nation socials! X/Twitter: <a href="https://x.com/NHLJetsNation">@NHLJetsNation</a> and on Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jetsnationdotca/">@JetsNationDotCa</a>

It's Winnipeg Jets game day once again on this Monday night. The Jets continue their 6 game road trip against Central division rivals, the Minnesota Wild. Not only is this game a battle of division rivals, but it's also a battle of the top 2 teams in the NHL standings at the quarter season mark. The 1st place Jets are 17-4-0, while the 2nd place Wild are not too far behind, siting at 13-3-4.

Tonight's game will be the 2nd matchup between these two teams this season. The Jets took the 1st one in Winnipeg early in the season by a score of 2-1 in overtime. The big news from the Jets this week was that Dylan Samberg will be out of the Jets lineup for a while, after suffering a broken foot while blocking a shot last game against the Nashville Predators.

Replacing Dylan Samberg in the Jets lineup will be Ville Heinola, who was recalled yesterday from his conditioning stint with the Manitoba Moose. During practice this morning, it looked like Heinola was skating with Colin Miller on the 3rd pairing, which means that Haydn Fleury will be moved up to the 2nd defence pairing with Neal Pionk. Samberg's injury leaves a big hole in the Jets top 4 defence, so tonight will be a good test for Fleury to see if he can handle top 4 minutes in the short term.

The Wild continue to be without one of their top forwards in Mats Zuccarello, who needed surgery earlier this month. Some good news for Wild fans was announced recently, as it appears star forward Kirill Kaprizov has avoided any kind of serious injury. The team is reportedly managing Kaprizov's health day by day, and it is unconfirmed at the moment (a game-time decision) if he will try to suit up for tonight's game.

Like most heavyweight matchups in the NHL, special teams will be something to watch for tonight. You probably know by now that the Jets number 1 powerplay has contributed to their success in a majority of their wins this season. The penalty kill however has begun to struggle as of late, as a once top 10 ranked penalty kill has fallen to 21st in the league.

The Wild on the other hand, haven't really relied on their special teams much at all despite their successful start to the season. A goal differential of +19 (69 to 50) indicates that the Wild have grinded out several close low scoring games this season. The goaltending duo of Filip Gustavsson (starting tonight) and Marc-Andre Fleury (with Jesper Wallstedt continuing to develop well) has been a big part of the reason why the Wild have won more hockey games than they've lost.

The Wild penalty kill is 28th in the league though, so the number 1 Jets power play needs to capitalize on their chances tonight if they want to win this game. Overall, I expect this game to be a low scoring, high intensity contest between 2 teams exceeding their pre-season expectations at the quarter season mark. Puck drop is at 7:00 pm CT, and make sure to check back here on Jets Nation for an instant reaction / recap to tonight's anticipated matchup.

Jets projected lineup

Connor - Scheifele - Vilardi

Perfetti - Namestnikov - Ehlers

Niederreiter - Lowry - Appleton

Barron - Kupari - Iafallo

Morrissey - DeMelo

Fleury - Pionk

Heinola - Miller

Hellebuyck

Comrie

&nbsp;

A battle between the top 2 teams in the NHL standings: Winnipeg Jets vs. Minnesota Wild game day 22

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