Game Day Set-Up: Jets @ Predators

When: Saturday, March 7, 2015

Time: 6:00 p.m. CST

Where: Bridgestone Centre, Nashville, Tennessee

Records: Winnipeg Jets (32-21-12, 76 points, 7th in West), Nashville Predators (41-18-7, 89 points, 2nd in West)

Television/Radio: SN, FS-TN/ TSN 1290 Radio

On the Horizon: Tuesday, March 10th on the road against the St.Louis Blues (7:00 p.m. CST)

Last Game: 3-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators

Top Scorers:

Winnipeg Jets: Andrew Ladd (22 goals, 30 assists, 52 points), Bryan Little (24 goals, 27 assists, 51 points), Blake Wheeler (17 goals, 29 assists, 46 points), Dustin Byfuglien (15 goals, 27 assists, 42 points), Mark Scheifele (10 goals, 26 assists, 36 points)

Nashville Predators: Mike Ribeiro (13 goals, 40 assists, 53 points), Filip Forsberg (21 goals, 32 assists, 53 points), Roman Josi (11 goals, 36 assists, 47 points), Shea Weber (15 goals, 28 assists, 43 points), Colin Wilson (20 goals, 20 assists, 40 points)

Game Day Notes:

– Tonight is the first game of a four game road trip for Winnipeg. The Jets earned five of a possible eight points on their recent four game home stand and are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games.

– Jets Season Road Record: 15-10-7

– The Jets have a record of 12-6-4 against teams in the Central Division this year

– Nashville’s Season Home Record: 26-6-1

– Nashville lost their last game 4-3 to the New York Islanders and have lost five games in a row.

– The Predators have allowed the first goal in each of their last 10 games. They are 3-6-1 in the last 10 games.

– The Predators have four players with 20 or more goals (Filip Forsberg, James Neal, Colin Wilson, Craig Smith)

– This is the fifth and final meeting of the season between the Jets and Predators. Nashville has won three of the four games between the two teams. Most recently, Nashville defeated the Jets 3-1 on February 12th.

– On Friday Nashville announced that forward Eric Nystrom will be out four weeks with a lower body injury.

– On Friday, Jets Head Coach Paul Maurice announced that Dustin Byfuglien will be out two to four weeks with an upper body injury. Byfuglien was injured during the second period of Wednesday night’s game against Ottawa. Maurice announced that Bryan Little (undisclosed) is also injured and will not play tonight versus Nashville. Little is expected to be out for roughly a week.

– Michael Hutchinson is expected to start in goal for the Jets tonight. In 33 games this season, Hutchinson has a record of 19-8-5 with a .918 save percentage, two shutouts and 2.34 Goals Against Average. This will be Hutchinson’s 6th start in a row. In his last start, Hutchinson allowed three goals on 17 shots.

– Pekka Rinne is expected to start in net for the Predators tonight. In 50 games this season, the goaltender has a record of 35-12-3 with a .926 save percentage, three shutouts and 2.14 Goals Against Average.

– Courtesy of John Glennon of the Tennessean newspaper, During 300 minutes of the Predators five game losing streak, they’ve held a lead for just seven minutes and 48 seconds.

– Red Hot for Winnipeg: Andrew Ladd has seven points (four goals, three assists) in the last eight games.

– Ice Cold: Jim Slater has no points in the last 10 games.

– Milestone Watch: Bryan Little needs four more assists to reach 200 career assists.

– The Predators average 2.88 goals for/game, 8th in the NHL. The Jets average 2.68 goals for/game, 18th in the NHL.

– The Predators average 2.38 goals against/game, 3rd in the NHL. The Jets average 2.62 goals against/game, 17th in the NHL.

– Defenseman Roman Josi leads all Predators in ice time, averaging 26:34 of ice time per game. Shea Weber is not that far behind, averaging 26:31 of ice time per game.

– Predators Top Face-off Guy: Paul Gaustad (57.2%)

– Jets Top Face-off Guy: Jim Slater (57.7%)

Special Teams Breakdown:

– Nashville PP (16.7%, 24th in NHL), Nashville PK (81.5%, 14th in NHL)

– Winnipeg PP (18.1%, 16th in NHL), Winnipeg PK (80.8%, 18th in NHL)

Projected Winnipeg Jets Line Combinations:

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

Tobias Enstrom- Tyler Myers
Mark Stuart- Jacob Trouba
Jay Harrison- Adam Pardy

Michael Hutchinson
Ondrej Pavelec

Healthy Scratches: Paul Postma, TJ Galiardi

Projected Nashville Predators Line Combinations:

Filip Forsberg- Mike Ribeiro- Craig Smith
Colin Wilson- Mike Fisher- James Neal
Matt Cullen- Calle Jarnkrok –  Mike Santorelli
Gabriel Bourque- Paul Gaustad- Taylor Beck

Roman Josi- Shea Weber
Seth Jones- Cody Franson
Mattia Ekholm- Ryan Ellis

Pekka Rinne
Carter Hutton

Healthy Scratches:

Injury Report:

Nashville Predators: Eric Nystrom (lower body), Anton Volchenkov (lower body)

Winnipeg Jets: Grant Clitsome (back surgery, indefinitely), Matt Halischuk (lower body, Injured Reserve), Mathieu Perreault (IR, lower body), Ben Chiarot (surgery, IR), Dustin Byfuglien (upper body), Bryan Little (undisclosed)