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JGD #57: New Blood

By Garret Hohl

Feb 12, 2015, 17:52 ESTUpdated:

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The Winnipeg Jets look to continue their win streak, moving from two to three ROW in a row. They now face the Predators in Nashville with the two new additions in their roster, arriving from the Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian trade.

Let’s take a look at today’s matchup.

Tonight’s matchup is round four of five between the two teams, with the Jets being 1-2-0 against the Predators. The Jets have been outscored by the Predators 5-4 in the three games.

The Predators have been impressive of late, with a 6-2-2 record, and also have been tough to beat at home, going 22-3-1. The Predators have been revitalized with the return of Pikke Rinne.

LINES

Lines provided by DailyFaceoff.com

Winnipeg

New guy, Drew Stafford, gets thrown onto the Jets second line with Mark Scheifele and fancystats-superstar Mathieu Perreault. Jets depth still looks awkward with Chris Thorburn on the third line.

I’m not sure I agree with this depth chart in two ways. There is no way the pair of Tobias Enstrom and Tyler Myers receives less ice time than Mark Stuart and Jacob Trouba. The Jets top four defenders are most like Dustin Byfuglien, Jacob Trouba, Tobias Enstrom, and Tyler Myers, in that order. The pairings seem odd.

Michael Hutchinson played the last game, so expect Ondrej Pavelec to be starting. Pavelec has 0.911 save percentage and a 13-11-7 record, but has yet to beat a team above the playoff line since November 4th, 2014. Can he do that today?

Nashville

Rookie superstar Filip Forsberg leads the Predators with 19 goals and 48 points, while Ribeiro leads the Preds in assists with 34.

The Predators defensive core boast a right side comparably strong to the Jets. Who will beat the other will be interesting to watch.

Pekka Rinne has been on fire, with sustain a 0.929 save percentage over 40 games. Carter Hutton hasn’t been as hot with a 0.905.

Predictions

Game Day Predictions: Jets win. Jets always should be predicted to win.

Obvious Predictions: Both teams play hockey while taking the ice. Mathieu Perreault does some moves that are pretty impressive.

Not So Obvious Predictions: Tyler Myers is not much of an upgrade over Zach Bogosian, and Drew Stafford is not as good as Evander Kane, but they both fill their role adequately.