Game Day Set-Up: Avalanche @ Jets

When: Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Time: 7:00 p.m. CST

Where: MTS Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Records: Winnipeg Jets (31-30-9, 11th in the Western Conference), Colorado Avalanche (44-20-5, 4th in the Western Conference)

Television/Radio: ALT2, TSN-JETS/ TSN 1290 Radio

On the Horizon: Saturday, March 22nd at home against the Carolina Hurricanes (6:00 p.m. CST).

Last Game: 3-1 road loss to the St.Louis Blues

Top Scorers:

Winnipeg Jets: Blake Wheeler (23 goals, 33 assists, 56 points), Bryan Little (20 goals, 34 assists, 54 points), Dustin Byfuglien (19 goals, 33 assists, 52 points), Andrew Ladd (19 goals, 29 assists, 48 points), Olli Jokinen (16 goals, 21 assists, 36 points)

Colorado Avalanche: Matt Duchene (22 goals, 44 assists, 66 points), Ryan O’Reilly (25 goals, 31 assists, 56 points), Gabriel Landeskog (20 goals, 35 assists, 55 points),  Nathan MacKinnon (23 goals, 30 assists, 53 points), Paul Stastny (20 goals, 28 assists, 48 points)

Game Day Notes:

– Heading into tonight’s game, the Jets sit in 11th place in the Western Conference, six points behind the Phoenix Coyotes for the 8th and final playoff spot. Phoenix has played one less game than Winnipeg.

– The Avalanche lost to the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 last night and are 7-3-0 over their last 10 games.

– On Wednesday morning, Jets Head Coach Paul Maurice announced that Dustin Byfuglien would not be in the line-up tonight with a lower body injury. Eric Tangradi will take Byfuglien’s place in the line-up.

– Avalanche center John Mitchell did not accompany the team to Winnipeg and will not play tonight as he left last night’s game versus Montreal with a back injury.

– Al Montoya will make his third consecutive start in net for the Jets tonight. Montoya stopped 22 of 24 shots against St. Louis Monday night.

– Defenseman Erik Johnson leads the Avalanche in average ice time (22:52/game) which ranks 42nd most in the NHL. Tobias Enstrom leads the Jets in average ice time (23:69/game) which ranks 29th in the NHL.

-The Avalanche average 10.5 penalty minutes/game which ranks 12th in the NHL. The Jets average 12.7 penalty minutes/game which is 25th in the NHL.

– Who’s Hot: Avalanche forward Ryan O’Reilly has three goals and 10 assists in his last 10 games. Jets forward Dustin Byfuglien has five goals and an assist in his last five games.

– Who’s Cold: Devin Setoguchi has no points in his last eight games.

Special Teams Breakdown:

– Colorado has the 4th Ranked Power Play in the NHL (20.8%) and the 19th Ranked Penalty Kill in the NHL (81.1%)

– Winnipeg has the 27th Ranked Power Play in the NHL (14.5%) and the 5th Ranked Penalty Kill in the NHL (84.8%)

Starting Goalies:

– Al Montoya (11-6-3, 2.18 GAA, .924 Save Percentage)

– Reto Berra (9-17-2, 2.95 GAA, .897 Save Percentage)

Projected Winnipeg Jets Line Combinations:

Andrew Ladd-Bryan Little-Michael Frolik
Evander Kane- Eric O’Dell-Devin Setoguchi
Eric Tangradi- Olli Jokinen-Blake Wheeler
Matt Halischuk- Patrice Cormier-Anthony Peluso

Zach Bogosian – Tobias Enstrom
Mark Stuart – Jacob Trouba
Adam Pardy – Keaton Ellerby

Al Montoya
Michael Hutchinson

Scratches: Paul Postma, Matt Halischuk

Projected Colorado Avalanche Line Combinations:

Gabriel Landeskog-Paul Stastny- Nathan MacKinnon
Jamie McGinn- Matt Duchene- Ryan O’Reilly
Max Talbot- (             )- Cody McLeod
Brad Malone-Marc-Andre Cliche- Patrick Bordeleau

Erik Johnson- Jan Hejda
Tyson Barrie- Andre Benoit
Nick Holden- Nate Guenin

Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Semyon Varlamov

Healthy Scratches: Cory Sarich, Ryan Wilson

Injury Report:

Colorado Avalanche: Alex Tanguay (knee, out for season), P.A. Parenteau (knee), John Mitchell (back)

Winnipeg Jets:  Grant Clitsome (back, out for season), James Wright (ankle), Mark Scheifele (knee), John Albert (upper body), Ondrej Pavelec (lower body,day-to-day), Chris Thorburn (out indefinitely), Jim Slater (lower body, day-to-day), Dustin Byfuglien (lower body)