Game Day Preview: Jets @ Senators

When: Sunday, March 17, 2013

Time: 4:00 p.m. CST

Where: Scotiabank Place, Ottawa, Ontario

Records: Winnipeg Jets (15-11-2 – 3rd in East), Ottawa Senators (14-8-6 – 5th in East)

Television/Radio: TSN-JETS, SNET-E,  TVA/ TSN 1290

The Story: It’s Sunday. It’s St. Patrick’s Day and the Winnipeg Jets are in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference with 20 games left to play in the 2012’13 regular season.

Winnipeg defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 in the shootout Saturday night and are now atop the Southeast Division with 32 points, one point ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes, who lost 4-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Winnipeg has won five of their last six games and have definitely got a swagger in their step. The Jets have won seven of their last 10 road games and eight of their last 11 games overall. The Jets meet an Ottawa Senators team this afternoon that defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 last night in overtime and is still holding down 5th place in the East.

Expect a low scoring, tight game as the Ottawa Senators play a tight checking style of hockey that relies on quick transitions out of their own zone and stellar goaltending.

Winnipeg must continue to get production from it’s top guns and there is no reason to believe that won’t happen. The number 1 line of Andrew Ladd-Bryan Little-Blake Wheeler continues to be a force on a nightly basis and has turned into an unbelievably reliable line for Jets Head Coach Claude Noel.

There are no line up changes expected for the Winnipeg Jets today which means forward Alexander Burmistrov will be a healthy scratch for the fourth straight game.

This is the third and final meeting of the season between the Senators and Jets this year with the season series tied at one game apiece.

Ondrej Pavelec is expected to get the start in goal for the Winnipeg Jets.

Follow @IllegalCurve on Twitter leading up to today’s game.

Projected Jets line combinations (subject to change before game time):

Goalie:

Ondrej Pavelec

Forwards:

1st: Andrew Ladd- Bryan Little- Blake Wheeler

2nd:  Evander Kane-Nikolai Antropov- Kyle Wellwood

3rd:  James Wright– Olli Jokinen- Antti Miettinen

4th:  Eric Tangradi- Patrice Cormier – Chris Thorburn

Defence:

Ron Hainsey- Zach Bogosian

Dustin Byfuglien- Grant Clitsome

Derek Meech- Mark Stuart

Offensive Leaders:

Ottawa Senators: Kyle Turris (7 goals, 11 assists, 18 points), Sergei Gonchar (1 goal, 14 assists, 15 points), Daniel Alfredsson (6 goals, 9 assists, 15 points)

Winnipeg Jets: Andrew Ladd (14 goals, 14 assists, 28 points), Blake Wheeler (12 goals, 12 assists, 24 points) Evander Kane (11 goals, 9 assists, 20 points).

Injury Report:

Ottawa Senators: Mike Lundin (concussion), Milan Michalek (knee), Craig Anderson (ankle), Jason Spezza (back), Erik Karlsson (achilles), Jared Cowen (hip)

Winnipeg Jets: Tobias Enstrom (shoulder, week to week), Zach Redmond (leg), Anthony Peluso (hand), Jim Slater (upper body)

Who’s Next:  After today’s game, the Jets return home for four straight games: Tuesday, March 19th vs. Boston (7:00 p.m. CST), Thursday, March 21st vs. Washington (7:00 p.m. CST), Friday, March 22nd vs. Washington (6:00 p.m. CST) and Sunday, March 24th against Tampa Bay (7:00 p.m. CST)