Winnipeg Jets are back home after a .500 five game road trip and hosting the Buffalo Sabres who are in the middle of a three game road trip. It should be a fine afternoon contest and as these two teams barely ever see each other, should lack any kind of emotion and may even be a bit on the boring side!

…

Wait, why are you all wearing track suits?

We of course know what the main story is going into this afternoons contest versus the Sabres.

Evander Kane returns to Winnipeg for the first time since the trade. Fans may or may not boo him out of the building while wearing track suits that were snapped up from all the Value Villages and MCC Thrift Stores in Manitoba. He may or may not have challenged Andrew Ladd and / or Blake Wheeler to a fight in an interview he did earlier this season. This game also marks the return of Zack Bogosian while Drew Stafford and Tyler Myers get to face their old team for the first time.

But beyond the first meeting since “the trade” this marks the start of an important stretch for the Jets where nine of the next ten games are at home. Winnipeg has been hanging around the .500 mark which is maddening enough to not gain any ground in a playoff race but isn’t bad enough to put the Jets in the running for a better draft position.

The Sabres meanwhile have lost their last six games.

Paul Maurice’s latest blender moves haven’t really resulted in any more new found offense, but we’ve come to a revelation of sorts that Perreault and Scheifele have some nice chemistry as does Lowry and Burmistrov.

Same ol, same ol for this group. TruBuff is great although Trouba did struggle a bit against a much faster Stars side in the previous game. Enstrom and Myers have their moments where they look like a really good pair and moments they both look lost. Chiarot and Stuart we can confirm are playing in the NHL at the very least.

Hellebuyck will get the start again although you could make an argument that this should be Hutchinson’s game to at least gather a little bit of confidence back before a fully healthy Pavelec really muddies up this goalie situation.

Ryan O’ Reilly is having himself a nice rebound season in Buffalo after struggling badly in Colorado. He has already matched his goal total from last season (17) in half the games played and is on a modest two game points streak. The Sabres also have a pair of dynamic rookies in 2015’s #2 overall pick Jack Eichel and 2014’s #2 overall pick Sam Reinhart. Basically the Sabres are the Edmonton Oilers of the east, just one pick lower.

Second year player Rasmus Ristolainen is tied for second in the team in scoring which maybe speaks volumes of how bad the Sabres are on offense, but also says a little bit about how good this kid is on the blueline. Bogosian – to the shock of no Jets fan ever – has been hampered by injuries and since his return tot he lineup, is starting to show Sabres fans flashes of the kind of ‘defense’ that annoyed so many fans in Winnipeg.

Chad Johnson had a pretty good stretch of games around the end of November and start of December but has cooled off since and is now riding a personal three game losing streak. He was actually quite good against Chicago on Friday night and deserved a better fate but had zero offensive support. He is a goalie that can steal a win for the Sabres and the Jets will have to get traffic in front of him to prevent that from happening.

Game Day Prediction: It’s hard not to overlook Buffalo a bit when they sport such a brutal record, but no team in the NHL should be taken lightly. That said, as long as they continue to be smart, limit penalties and luck into a power play goal, the Jets should be ok here. 5-2 Jets win.

Obvious Predictions: Kane is going to be booed every time he touches the puck. Bogo as well but less so. Dozens of people will be going back to Wal-Mart Monday morning to try and return a lightly used track suit.

Not So Obvious Predictions: The players on the ice treat this like any other hockey contest, zero punches are thrown by anyone (outside of your usual scrums and after whistle meetings) and a game like this as always will fail to live up to it’s “hype.”