Game Day Set-Up: Hurricanes @ Jets

When: Saturday, March 22nd, 2014

Time: 6:00 p.m. CST

Where: MTS Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Records: Winnipeg Jets (32-30-9, 11th in the Western Conference), Carolina Hurricanes (30-31-9, 12th in the Eastern Conference)

Television/Radio: CBC, FS-CR/ TSN 1290 Radio

On the Horizon: Monday, March 24th on the road against the Dallas Stars (7:30 p.m. CST).

Last Game: 5-4 home victory (SO) over the Colorado Avalanche

Top Scorers:

Winnipeg Jets: Blake Wheeler (24 goals, 35 assists, 59 points), Bryan Little (20 goals, 35 assists, 55 points), Dustin Byfuglien (19 goals, 33 assists, 52 points), Andrew Ladd (21 goals, 29 assists, 50 points), Olli Jokinen (16 goals, 24 assists, 40 points)

Carolina Hurricanes: Eric Staal (16 goals, 38 assists, 54 points), Jeff Skinner (26 goals, 18 assists, 44 points), Andrej Sekera (11 goals, 31 assists, 42 points),  Alexander Semin (21 goals, 20 assists, 41 points), Jordan Staal (14 goals, 22 assists, 36 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 Hurricanes played the Chicago Blackhawks last night and lost 3-2. Carolina is 4-6-0 over their last 10 games.

– Dustin Byfuglien (lower body), Zach Bogosian (upper body) and Jim Slater (lower body)  participated in Saturdays morning skate and are all expected to play tonight versus Carolina. Bogosian, Byfuglien and Slater did not play on Wednesday against Colorado.

– On Saturday, the Jets re-assigned John Albert to the St. John’s IceCaps (AHL).

– Al Montoya will make his fourth consecutive start in net for the Jets tonight. Montoya stopped 21 of 25 shots against Colorado Wednesday night.

– Defenseman Andrej Sekera leads the Hurricanes in average ice time (23:39/game) which ranks 33rd most in the NHL. Tobias Enstrom leads the Jets in average ice time (23:58/game) which ranks 29th in the NHL.

-The Hurricanes average 8.2 penalty minutes/game which ranks 2nd in the NHL. The Jets average 12.6 penalty minutes/game which is 24th in the NHL.

– Who’s Hot: Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal has two goals and four assists in his last five games. Jets forward Blake Wheeler has one goal and eight assists in his last six games. Jets forward Andrew Ladd has four goals in his last five games.

– Who’s Cold: Devin Setoguchi has one assist in his last nine games.

Special Teams Breakdown:

– Carolina has the 29th Ranked Power Play in the NHL (12.7%) and the 17th Ranked Penalty Kill in the NHL (81.6%)

– Winnipeg has the 27th Ranked Power Play in the NHL (14.8%) and the 5th Ranked Penalty Kill in the NHL (84.8%)

Starting Goalies:

– Al Montoya (12-6-3, 2.26 GAA, .921 Save Percentage)

– Cam Ward (8-11-5, 3.14 GAA, .893 Save Percentage)

Projected Winnipeg Jets Line Combinations:

Andrew Ladd-Bryan Little-Michael Frolik
Evander Kane- Eric O’Dell-Devin Setoguchi
Dustin Byfuglien- Olli Jokinen-Blake Wheeler
Eric Tangradi- Jim Slater-Matt Halischuk

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

Al Montoya
Michael Hutchinson

Scratches: Paul Postma, Anthony Peluso

Projected Carolina Hurricanes Line Combinations:

Jordan Staal-Eric Staal- Alexander Semin
Nathan Gerbe- Andrei Loktionov- Jiri Tlusty
Jeff Skinner- Riley Nash- Elias Lindholm
Drayson Bowman-Manny Malhotra- Pat Dwyer

Andrej Sekera- John-Michael Liles
Ron Hainsey- Justin Faulk
Jay Harrison- Brett Bellemore

Anton Khudobin
Cam Ward

Healthy Scratches: Mike Komisarek, Radek Dvorak, Justin Peters

Injury Report:

Carolina Hurricanes: Ryan Murphy (upper body)

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