Game 48: Winnipeg Jets vs Chicago Blackhawks pre-game report

Not sure that anyone would have thought approaching the 50 game mark of the season that the Blackhawks would be sitting one point up on the Jets but here they are.

Winnipeg is coming off a disappointing loss to Toronto at home on Saturday night that saw them have 2-0 and 3-1 leads only to lose the game 4-3 in overtime. It turned their four-game win streak to a five-game points streak but given where they are in the standings losing just one point is a blow.

Of course tonight’s game in Chicago is anything but a regular one for Jonathan Toews as the former Hawks captain who led his team to three Stanley Cup championships will play there as a visitor for the first time in his 16 year career.

His former team are 5-4-1 in their last ten but have lost three straight games. Despite playing one more game than the visitors they’ve scored 11 fewer goals and allowed six more. When it comes to special teams the Hawks have the 12th ranked PP and 2nd best PK.

Skate news:

Starts at 11:30 AM.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor – Scheifele – Iafallo
Perfetti – Toews – Vilardi
Niederreiter – Lowry – Namestnikov
Koepke – Barron – Pearson

Morrissey – DeMelo
Samberg – Salomonsson
Stanley – Schenn

Hellebuyck/Comrie

Blackhawks projected lines & D pairs:

Greene-Bedard-Burakovsky
Bertuzzi-Dickinson-Mikheyev
Donato-Moore-Lardis
Dach-Foligno-Slaggert

Vlasic-Crevier
Kaiser-Levshunov
Grzelcyk-Murphy

Knight/Soderblom

These were the lines and D pairs via Ben Pope of Sun-Times.

Players media availability:

To follow.

Coach media availability:

To follow.

Odds:

Chicago’s position in the standings may raise an eyebrow, but the underlying expectations still point toward Winnipeg. The Jets enter as quiet favourites on the road, carrying the profile of a team built to dictate play, while the Blackhawks continue to challenge assumptions with their competitiveness. Add in the emotional weight of Jonathan Toews returning to Chicago as a visitor, and this shapes up as a tightly contested game where composure and execution are likely to matter more than where the teams sit on the table. For the latest Winnipeg Jets hockey odds, visit NHL betting site Betway.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 7:30 PM CST. Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. You can join us on our YouTube channel for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show around 10:10 PM CST as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.