The Jets continue their home stand which has gone less than ideal if you had any hope that they would make a late push towards a playoff spot. It doesn’t get any easier tonight as the New Jersey Devils come to The Peg sporting a three game winning streak and in a battle of their own to keep pace in the playoff race out east.

The first meeting between these two teams was the season opener for the Devils in New Jersey as the Jets skated to a 3-1 win thanks to two point nights from both Blake Wheeler and Andrew Ladd as well as some strong goaltending from Michael Hutchinson.

Those glory days seem so long ago do they not?

Lately the Devils have had an odd schedule of sorts going on a four game road swing that took them through the NHL Central division (and Arizona) before heading home for a pair of games only to go back on the road where they’ll play tonight in Winnipeg and three nights from now in Pittsburgh. It’s also been an up and down couple of months for Jersey as they’ve gone 12-10-3 since December 1st.

But they have a couple of three game winning streaks in that time, which is more than what we can say for the Jets. Winnipeg failed to get their third win in a row on Tuesday night and remain the only team in the NHL to not have a such a streak this season.

LINEUPS

Courtesy of Daily Faceoff. 

Winnipeg Jets (21-23-3)

Paul Maurice stated he was “reasonably confident” when asked if Stafford and Burmistrov would be back in the lineup for the Jets tonight and they’ll be game time decisions. Nik Ehlers has four points in his last five games as putting him with players such as Stafford and Perreault seem to agree well with his game.

No changes at all to the defense, but the big news on Friday was that the Jets toyed with the idea of putting Byfuglien in front of the net while on the power play. It’s a tactic that’s worked out in the past and while the Jets will miss his booming shot from the point that strategy hasn’t seen much success so at the very least they are trying a new look.

Connor is starting the 18th game of the Jets past 20 and while we worry about the workload the kid is facing, he seems to be holding up to it fairly well.

Lee Stempniak is headed to his first 20 goal season since the 09-10 campaign. Kyle Palmieri already has 20 goals, Michael Cammalleri leads the team in scoring with 14 goals and 36 points and Travis Zajac is fresh off a four point night (1 goal, 3 assists) against the Senators. That all said, this is a team that struggles to score most nights and once you get past the top 6, it’s a very thin looking group of forwards.

The Devils win with defense as they are in the NHL’s top 10 in goals against (111) and 11th on the penalty kill. The Devils will be without John Moore who was placed on IR. He had been on the top pairing with Adam Larsson.

Cory Schneider is the workhorse of the Devils as he’s started 10 of the Devils last 11 games and 38 of the Devils 48 games this season.

PREDICTIONS

Game Day Prediction: New Jersey is a strong road team and for whatever reason the Jets can’t seem to do much right at home. Devils win 5-2 and the tank rolls along.

Obvious Prediction: The Jets will score a power play goal while Big Buff is camped out in front of Schneider and suddenly the coaching staff will look like geniuses for putting the big man in front of the net.

Not so Obvious Prediction: This guy will enjoy a devils win and go around scaring priests for the next 24 hours…