Winnipeg Jets 2024-25 regular season game number 31 is upon us for Jets fans around the globe on this Thursday night. Game number 30 was a memorable one, where the Jets locked in and dismantled the Bruins 8-1 at Canada Life Centre. That game had a little of everything, from lots of goals, to multiple fights, to the coaches getting into a heated argument across the benches. The victory (in convincing fashion) was much needed for the Jets, who will now turn their attention to tonight’s 2nd out of 4 straight games at home.

It’s always an exciting matchup when the Vegas Golden Knights come to Winnipeg. The two teams met just 2 weeks ago in Vegas, where a hard fought battle went in favour of the Golden Knights 4-3. The Jets have now lost 5 straight regular season games against the Golden Knights, and are 1-9 in their last 10 against Vegas including their 5 game playoff series in April 2023. There’s been some close games, but the Jets just haven’t seemed to find a way to break this streak, but that could change tonight.

The Golden Knights enter this game as one of the hottest teams in the league, currently on a 7-2-1 run including 3 straight wins. Taking a look at the league standings as of Thursday morning, the Jets are tied with the Wild at the top with 42 points (the Jets have played two more games than the Wild), while the Golden Knights find themselves close behind at 39 points, 4th overall in the NHL. The 21-9-0 Jets are in for a tough contest tonight, and we’ll see how the team plays following a dominating performance against the Bruins.

At practice yesterday, David Gustafsson and Connor Hellebuyck were absent. Hellebuyck was just taking a maintenance day, while Gustafsson remains a question mark for tonight after being punched in the face by Bruins forward Trent Frederic. Gustafsson stepped up to the challenge by taking on Frederic in a quick one-sided brawl, but it was a predictable outcome for Frederic, who previously had 18 career fights to Gustafsson’s 0. If Gustafsson is out, expect Rasmus Kupari to slot back into the lineup at the 4th line centre position.

The expected starting goalies for tonight’s game are Connor Hellebuyck and Adin Hill. It’s a matchup of two goalies who could potentially be squaring off at the 4 Nations face-off tournament in a classic USA vs. Canada matchup. Hellebuyck continues to impress lately, maintaining a career low 2.09 goals against average and a career high save percentage at .927 and a 18-5-0 record. Hill continues to hold down the starter’s job in Vegas over Ilya Samsonov with a 12-4-2 record. Hill’s number aren’t quite career bests at the moment like Hellebuyck, but he does have a .905 save percentage and a very solid 2.63 goals against average.

I predict that this game is going to be another close game between two of the top teams in the league at the 30 game mark of the regular season. Both teams have been scoring at a great pace, but both teams also have the goaltending that can help them win those “too close to call” type of games. The Jets need to use the energy from the home crowd tonight, as well as find a way to maintain one of the league’s best special teams, if they want a chance to beat this well-balanced team from Vegas. Puck drop is at 7 pm CT, and make sure to follow along during and after the game on our socials and here at Jets Nation.

Connor – Scheifele – Vilardi

Perfetti – Namestnikov – Chibrikov

Niederreiter – Lowry – Appleton

Barron – Kupari – Iafallo

Morrissey – DeMelo

Fleury – Pionk

Stanley – Heinola

Hellebuyck

Comrie