Game Day Set-Up: Jets @ Penguins

When: Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Time: 6:00 p.m. CST

Where: Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Records: Winnipeg Jets (26-14-8, 60 points, 5th in West), Pittsburgh Penguins (26-12-8, 60 points, 5th in East)

Television/Radio: SN1, FS-O/ TSN 1290 Radio

On the Horizon: Thursday, January 29th on the road against the Philadelphia Flyers (6:00 p.m. CST)

Last Game: 4-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets

Top Scorers:

Winnipeg Jets: Andrew Ladd (17 goals, 23 assists, 40 points), Bryan Little (18 goals, 20 assists, 38 points), Blake Wheeler (13 goals, 23 assists, 36 points), Dustin Byfuglien (12 goals, 19 assists, 31 points), Mathieu Perreault (15 goals, 14 assists, 29 points)

Pittsburgh Penguins: Evgeni Malkin (19 goals, 32 assists, 51 points), Sidney Crosby (15 goals, 36 assists, 51 points), Kris Letang (9 goals, 23 assists, 32 points), Chris Kunitz (14 goals, 15 assists, 29 points), Patric Hornqvist (13 goals, 16 assists, 29 points)

Game Day Notes:

– The Jets have won five games in a row and are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.

– Jets Road Record: 14-5-5

– The Jets are 19-6-5 this season when they score the first goal of a game.

– The Jets have scored 29 goals in the last seven games.

– Pittsburgh is 4-3-3 in their last 10 games.

– Pittsburgh is 8-2-0 all time against the Winnipeg Jets 2.0 and 20-3-0 all time against the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets franchise.

– This is the second of two meetings between the Jets and Penguins this year. Pittsburgh defeated the Jets in Winnipeg 4-3 in a shootout back on November 6th.

– Sidney Crosby (lower body) and Evgeni Malkin (lower body) will both not play for the Penguins tonight. Malkin and Crosby played in the last Penguins game against Chicago on January 21st but both players missed the 2015 NHL All Star Weekend in Columbus and thus aren’t eligible to play tonight according to NHL rules.

– As per @PensRadioNet, Pittsburgh is 8-0-1 the last 9 times they’ve played without both Crosby and Malkin.

–  Ondrej Pavelec is expected to start in net for the Jets tonight. In 30 games this season, Pavelec is 12-10-6 with a .913 Save Percentage and a 2.47 Goals Against Average.

– According to Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette,Thomas Greiss is expected to start in net for the Penguins tonight. In 10 games this season, Greiss has a record of 4-2-3 with a 2.56 Goals Against Average and .920 save percentage and six shutouts.

– According to Tony Marinaro of TSN 690 Montreal, Kris Letang (head) will be in the line-up for Pittsburgh tonight. Letang left the Penguins game back on January 20th against the Philadelphia Flyers after being hit from behind by Zac Rinaldo.

– According to Molinari, David Perron (illness), Kris Letang (head) and Patric Hornqvist (lower body) will be game-time decisions tonight.

– Jets forward Mathieu Perreault (upper body) will make his return to the line-up tonight. Perreault missed the last two games before the All-Star Break after leaving a game on January 16th against the Chicago Blackhawks after being crosschecked by Daniel Carcillo. Carcillo was suspended six games by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for the incident. Perreault has 15 goals and 14 assists in 45 games this season.

– Jets defenseman Mark Stuart (undisclosed) will not play tonight. Stuart missed the last Jets game before the All-Star Break. Stuart was placed on Injured Reserve on Tuesday.

– On Monday, Pittsburgh recalled Andrew Ebbett, Scott Wilson, Bryan Rust and Scott Harrington from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League.

– Red Hot: Jets Captain Andrew Ladd has six goals and 11 assists in the last 14 games.

– The Penguins average 2.96 goals for/game, 7th in the NHL. The Jets average 2.73 goals for/game, 15th in the NHL.

– The Penguins average 2.46 goals against/game, 9th in the NHL. The Jets average 2.35 goals against/game, 5th in the NHL.

– Defenseman Kris Letang leads all Penguins in ice time, averaging 25:11 of ice time per game.

– Penguins Top Face-off Guy: Marcel Goc (53.7%)

– Jets Top Face-off Guy: Jim Slater (56.3%)

Special Teams Breakdown:

– Pittsburgh PP (22.2%,6th in NHL), Pittsburgh PK (87.1%, 3rd in NHL)

– Winnipeg PP (17.2%, 20th in NHL), Winnipeg PK (83.8%, 8th in NHL)

Projected Winnipeg Jets Line Combinations:

Andrew Ladd- Bryan Little- Blake Wheeler
Mathieu Perreault- Mark Scheifele- Michael Frolik
Evander Kane- Adam Lowry-Chris Thorburn
Matt Halischuk- Jim Slater- Anthony Peluso

Dustin Byfuglien- Ben Chiarot
Tobias Enstrom- Zach Bogosian
Jay Harrison- Jacob Trouba

Ondrej Pavelec
Michael Hutchinson

Healthy Scratches: Adam Pardy, Paul Postma, TJ Galiardi

Projected Pittsburgh Penguins Line Combinations:

Chris Kunitz- Nick Spaling- David Perron
Beau Bennett- Brandon Sutter-Patric Hornqvist
Mark Arcobello- Marcel Goc – Steve Downie
Zach Sill- Andrew Ebbett- Craig Adams

Paul Martin- Kris Letang
Robert Bortuzzo- Christian Ehrhoff
Rob Scuderi- Scott Harrington

Thomas Greiss
Marc- Andre Fleury

Healthy Scratches:

Injury Report:

Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby (lower body), Evgeni Malkin (lower body), Simon Despres (illness), Blake Comeau (wrist), Olli Maatta (lower body), Pascal Dupuis (illness, out for season)

Winnipeg Jets: Grant Clitsome (back surgery, indefinitely),  Mark Stuart (lower body, Injured Reserve)