Game Day Preview: Senators @ Jets

When: Monday, March 26, 2012

Time: 7:30 p.m. CST

Where: MTS Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Records: Winnipeg Jets (35-32-8), Ottawa Senators (38-28-10)

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

The Story: The Winnipeg Jets host the Ottawa Senators tonight at the MTS Centre (7:30 p.m. CST) needing a win just to keep their already slim playoff hopes alive.

The Jets lost to the Nashville Predators 3-1 on Saturday night and are now six points behind the 8th place Washington Capitals for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Heading into tonight’s game, the Jets remain in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with 78 points, also six points behind the 9th place Buffalo Sabres (84 points), with only seven games remaining on the season. The Jets have a game in hand on both the Sabres and Capitals but Washington has the most regulation wins of the three teams (Washington has 36 regulation wins, the Jets have 31 regulation wins and the Sabres have 30 regulation wins).

Including tonight, the Jets have three games left at home and four games remaining on the road. The Jets play the New York Rangers on Wednesday, March 28th (6:00 p.m. CST).  After that, the Jets will play four consecutive games on the road starting with back-to-back games against the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning beginning on Friday, March 30th.

Tonight’s game between the Jets and Senators will be the fourth and final meeting of the season between the two teams with Ottawa holding the season series edge with two wins to Winnipeg’s one. The last time these two teams played was back on January 16th, a 2-0 Jets victory.

The Senators enter tonight’s game on the heels of an 8-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ottawa has only won four of their last ten games and are in 7th place in the Eastern Conference with 86 points.

Ondrej Pavelec will make his 12th straight start tonight for the Jets.

Projected Jets line combinations:

Goalie:

Ondrej Pavelec

Forwards:

1st: Andrew Ladd-Bryan Little- Blake Wheeler

2nd:  Evander Kane- Alexander Burmistrov- Kyle Wellwood

3rd:  Tanner Glass- Jim Slater- Antti Miettinen

4th:  Tim Stapleton – Ben Maxwell – Spencer Machacek

Defence:

Dustin Byfuglien- Tobias Enstrom

Ron Hainsey- Zach Bogosian

Randy Jones–Mark Stuart

Offensive Leaders:

Ottawa Senators: Jason Spezza (31 goals, 47 assists, 78 points), Erik Karlsson (19 goals, 54 assists, 73 points), Milan Michalek (33 goals, 23 assists, 56 points)

Winnipeg Jets: Blake Wheeler (17 goals, 43 assists, 60 points), Evander Kane (28 goals, 23 assists, 51 points), Dustin Byfuglien (11 goals, 36 assists, 47 points)

Injury Report:

Ottawa Senators: Ben Bishop (lower body), Peter Regin (shoulder), Jesse Winchester (concussion),

Winnipeg Jets:  Chris Thorburn (upper body), Eric Fehr (upper body), Nikolai Antropov (lower body)

Who’s Next: The Jets next game is on Wednesday, March 28th, at home, against the New York Rangers (6:00 p.m. CST).

QUICKIES…..Blake Wheeler has no goals in his last five games…..Kyle Wellwood has no goals in his last seven games……Alexander Burmistrov has no goals in his last 10 games…..Evander Kane leads the Jets with 264 shots on goal, 9th most in the National Hockey League…..Bryan Little has taken 1335 faceoffs this year which is 9th most in the National Hockey League. He’s won 50.8% of them…..