Game Day Set-Up: Canadiens @ Jets

When: Thursday, March 26, 2015

Time: 7:00 p.m. CST

Where: MTS Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Records: Winnipeg Jets (38-24-12, 88 points, 7th in West), Montreal Canadiens (46-20-8, 100 points, 1st in East)

Television/Radio: RDS, SNE, TSN3/ TSN 1290 Radio

On the Horizon: Sunday, March 29th at home against the Chicago Blackhawks (6:30 p.m. CST)

Last Game: 5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks

Top Scorers:

Winnipeg Jets: Andrew Ladd (24 goals, 34 assists, 58 points), Blake Wheeler (23 goals, 34 assists, 57 points), Bryan Little (24 goals, 27 assists, 51 points), Mark Scheifele (13 goals, 31 assists, 44 points), Dustin Byfuglien (15 goals, 27 assists, 42 points)

Montreal Canadiens: Max Pacioretty (35 goals, 29 assists, 64 points), Tomas Plekanec (22 goals, 30 assists, 52 points), PK Subban (13 goals, 39 assists, 52 points), Brendan Gallagher (22 goals, 22 assists, 44 points), David Desharnais (13 goals, 30 assists, 43 points)

Game Day Notes:

– Tonight is the first game of a four game home stand for Winnipeg.

– The Jets are 5-1-0 in their last six games.

– Jets Season Home Record: 20-11-5

– The Jets are 11-2-2 in their last 15 home games

– The Jets have a record of 8-5-2 against teams in the Atlantic Division this year

– The Jets have a record of 26-1-6 when leading after two periods.

– The Jets have a record of 1-19-4 when trailing after two periods.

– The Jets have a record of 22-12-6 when they outshoot their opponent.

– The Jets have scored 9 shorthanded goals this year (Tied for 1st in NHL)

– Montreal’s Season Road Record: 22-12-3

– The Canadiens lost their last game 3-2 to the Nashville Predators and have a record of 5-2-3 in their last 10 games.

– This is the second of two meetings between the Jets and Canadiens. The Canadiens defeated the Jets 3-0 on November 11th in Montreal.

– Ondrej Pavelec is expected to start in goal for the Jets tonight. It will be Pavelec’s sixth start in seven games. In 43 games this season, Pavelec has a record of 18-14-7 with a .917 save percentage, two shutouts and 2.36 Goals Against Average. Pavelec has won his last five starts.

– Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien (upper body) will return to the Jets line-up tonight after missing the last nine games. Byfuglien will be paired up with Adam Pardy on defense. Jay Harrison will be a healthy scratch tonight.

– Bryan Little (upper body) took the game day skate in a non-contact jersey and will not play tonight. Little has also missed the last nine games.

– Matthieu Perreault took the game day skate in a regular jersey but he will not play tonight. Perreault is close to returning from injury. Perreault has been out of the Jets line-up since February 16th.

– Dustin Tokarski is expected to start in goal for the Canadiens tonight. In 15 games this season, Tokarski has a record of 6-5-3 with a 2.66 goals against average and .917 save percentage.

– Red Hot for the Jets: Drew Stafford is on a seven game points streak (four goals, five assists)

– Red Hot for the Canadiens: Max Pacioretty has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his last 10 games.

– Milestone Watch: Chris Thorburn is four games away from 600 career games played.

– Max Pacioretty is Plus-41, 1st in the NHL.

– The Canadiens average 2.55 goals for/game, 23rd in the NHL. The Jets average 2.70 goals for/game, 17th in the NHL.

– The Canadiens average 2.15 goals against/game, 1st in the NHL. The Jets average 2.57 goals against/game, 14th in the NHL.

– Defenseman Tyler Myers leads all Jets in ice time, averaging 24:37 of ice time per game.

– Defenseman P.K. Subban leads all Canadiens in ice time, averaging 26:06 of ice time per game.

– Canadiens Top Face-off Guy: Manny Malhotra (59.3%)

– Jets Top Face-off Guy: Jim Slater (58.3%)

Special Teams Breakdown:

– Montreal PP (15.9%, 26th in NHL), Montreal PK (84.4%, 6th in NHL)

– Winnipeg PP (18.6%, 13th in NHL), Winnipeg PK (81.5%, 14th in NHL)

Projected Winnipeg Jets Line Combinations:

Andrew Ladd- Adam Lowry- Michael Frolik
Blake Wheeler- Mark Scheifele- Drew Stafford
Jiri Tlusty- Jim Slater- Lee Stempniak
Chris Thorburn- Eric O’Dell- Matt Halischuk

Tobias Enstrom- Tyler Myers
Mark Stuart- Jacob Trouba
Adam Pardy- Dustin Byfuglien

Ondrej Pavelec
Michael Hutchinson

Healthy Scratches: TJ Galiardi, Anthony Peluso, Jay Harrison

Projected Montreal Canadiens Line Combinations:

Max Pacioretty- David Desharnais- P.A. Parenteau
Alex Galchenyuk- Tomas Plekanec- Brendan Gallagher
Jacob De La Rose- Lars Eller- Dale Weise
Brandon Prust- Torrey Mitchell- Devante Smith-Pelly

Andrei Markov- P.K. Subban
Alexei Emelin- Jeff Petry
Nathan Beaulieu- Greg Pateryn

Dustin Tokarski
Carey Price

Healthy Scratches:

Injury Report:

Montreal Canadiens: Davis Drewiske (wrist), Tom Gilbert (face), Jarred Tinordi (upper body)

Winnipeg Jets: Grant Clitsome (back surgery, indefinitely), Mathieu Perreault (IR, lower body), Ben Chiarot (surgery, IR), Bryan Little (upper body), Paul Postma (upper body)