When: Wednesday, January 21st, 2015
Time: 8:00 p.m. CST
Where: MTS Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Records: Winnipeg Jets (25-14-8, 58 points, 5th in West), Columbus Blue Jackets (20-21-3, 43 points, 12th in East)
Television/Radio: SN1, FS-O/ TSN 1290 Radio
On the Horizon: All-Star Break. The Jets next game is on Tuesday, January 27th on the road against the Pittsburgh Penguins (6:00 p.m. CST)
Last Game: 4-3 win (shootout) over the Arizona Coyotes
Top Scorers:
Winnipeg Jets: Andrew Ladd (17 goals, 22 assists, 39 points), Bryan Little (18 goals, 19 assists, 37 points), Blake Wheeler (12 goals, 23 assists, 35 points), Dustin Byfuglien (12 goals, 19 assists, 31 points), Mathieu Perreault (15 goals, 14 assists, 29 points)
Columbus Blue Jackets: Ryan Johansen (17 goals, 26 assists, 43 points), Nick Foligno (18 goals, 24 assists, 42 points), Scott Hartnell (10 goals, 18 assists, 28 points), James Wisniewski (5 goals, 17 assists, 22 points), Jack Johnson (4 goals, 17 assists, 21 points)
Game Day Notes:
– The Jets have won four games in a row and are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.
– Jets Home Record: 11-9-3
– The Jets are 18-6-5 this season when they score the first goal of a game.
– The Jets have scored 25 goals in the last six games.
– Columbus has won two games in a row and are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games.
– This is the second of two meetings between the Jets and Blue Jackets this year. Winnipeg defeated the Blue Jackets in Columbus 4-2 back on November 25th.
– Columbus will host the NHL All Star Weekend this coming weekend, January 24-25. It will be the first time the franchise and city has hosted the event. The Blue Jackets will be represented by three players: Ryan Johansen, Nick Foligno and Sergei Bobrovsky. Foligno was named as one of the team Captains. Chicago Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews was named the other Captain.
– Michael Hutchinson is expected to start in net for the Jets tonight. In 20 games this season, Hutchinson is 13-4-2 with a .932 Save Percentage and a 2.00 Goals Against Average.
– Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to start in net for the Blue Jackets tonight. In 32 games this season, Bobrovsky has a record of 16-14-2 with a 2.80 Goals Against Average and .915 save percentage.
– Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba (upper body) will make his long-anticipated return to the line-up tonight. Trouba has not played in a game since December 13th. Trouba was originally expected to be out until early February. Trouba will play alongside Jay Harrison on the team’s third defense pairing.
– Mark Stuart (undisclosed) will not play tonight. Prior to the game, Jets Head Coach Paul Maurice said that Stuart probably could play tonight but he is going to use the time to rest heading into the All-Star Break.
– Red Hot: Jets Captain Andrew Ladd has six goals and 10 assists in the last 13 games.
– Very Red Hot: Dustin Byfuglien has three goals and six assists in the last six games. (Byfuglien was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week on Monday).
– According to Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch, Ryan Murray (knee) and Artem Anisimov (triceps) will not play tonight but they are getting closer to returning to the line-up. The two are on the team’s current road trip and have been skating regularly for some time now. Murray has been limited to four games this year and has been out of the line-up since November 1st. Anisimov has been limited to 16 games this year and has been out of the line-up since November 27th.
– The Blue Jackets average 2.48 goals for/game, 24th in the NHL.
– The Blue Jackets average 3.11 goals against/game, 26th in the NHL.
– Columbus has the third worst goal differential in the Eastern Conference (-25)
– Defenseman Jack Johnson leads all Blue Jackets in ice time, averaging 24:04 of ice time per game.
– Blue Jackets Top Face-off Guy: Mark Letestu (54.2%)
– Jets Top Face-off Guy: Jim Slater (56.3%)
Special Teams Breakdown:
– Columbus PP (25.0%, 3rd in NHL), Columbus PK (79.1%, 23rd in NHL)
– Winnipeg PP (17.5%, 18th in NHL), Winnipeg PK (83.4%, 9th in NHL)
Projected Winnipeg Jets Line Combinations:
Andrew Ladd- Bryan Little- Blake Wheeler
Evander Kane- Mark Scheifele- Michael Frolik
Chris Thorburn- Adam Lowry-Matt Halischuk
TJ Galiardi- Jim Slater- Anthony Peluso
Dustin Byfuglien- Ben Chiarot
Tobias Enstrom- Zach Bogosian
Jay Harrison- Jacob Trouba
Michael Hutchinson
Ondrej Pavelec
Healthy Scratches: Adam Pardy, Paul Postma
Projected Columbus Blue Jackets Line Combinations:
Nick Foligno- Ryan Johansen- Jeremy Morin
Scott Hartnell- Brandon Dubinsky- Josh Anderson
Matt Calvert- Alexander Wennberg- Cam Atkinson
Corey Tropp- Mark Letestu- Jack Skille
Jack Johnson- David Savard
Kevin Connauton- James Wisniewski
Fedor Tyutin- Dalton Prout
Sergei Bobrovsky
Curtis McElhinney
Healthy Scratches: Jared Boll, Cody Goloubef, Jordon Leopold
Injury Report:
Columbus Blue Jackets: Boone Jenner (back), Brian Gibbons (knee), Artem Anisimov (triceps), Ryan Murray (knee), Nathan Horton (back)
Winnipeg Jets: Grant Clitsome (back surgery, indefinitely), Mathieu Perreault (upper body, arm), Mark Stuart (undisclosed)
