Game Day Set-Up: Penguins @ Jets

When: Thursday, November 6, 2014

Time: 7:00 p.m. CST

Where: MTS Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Records: Winnipeg Jets (7-5-1, 8th in West), Pittsburgh Penguins (8-2-1, 2nd in East)

Television/Radio: TSN3, ROOT/ TSN 1290 Radio

On the Horizon: Saturday, November 8th on the road against the Ottawa Senators (6:00 p.m. CST).

Last Game: 3-1 win over the Nashville Predators

Top Scorers:

Winnipeg Jets: Bryan Little (5 goals, 5 assists, 10 points), Andrew Ladd (5 goals, 4 assists, 9 points), Tobias Enstrom (0 goals, 8 assists, 8 points), Blake Wheeler (5 goals, 3 assists, 8 points), Zach Bogosian (0 goals, 5 assists, 5 points)

Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby (7 goals, 12 assists, 19 points), Evgeni Malkin (5 goals, 11 assists, 16 points), Patric Hornqvist (7 goals, 8 assists, 15 points), Chris Kunitz (8 goals, 6 assists, 14 points), Pascal Dupuis (4 goals, 5 assists, 9 points)

Game Day Notes:

– The Jets have earned points in each of their last six games (5-0-1). During that span, the Jets have only allowed six goals against.

– Dating back to 2011’12, the Jets have a regular season record of 2-7-0 against Pittsburgh. The Penguins defeated the Jets twice last season.

– Ondrej Pavelec will start in net for the Jets tonight. It will be Pavelec’s 12th start of the season. Pavelec has logged 688:41 of ice time so far this season, 2nd most in the NHL. Pavelec’s 2.01 Goals Against Average ranks 10th best in the NHL.

– Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury signed a four year, $23 million contract extension with the team on Wednesday. In 9 games this season, the 29-year-old goaltender has a record of 7-2-0 with a .931 save percentage and 1.89 Goals Against Average.

– Penguins veteran forward Craig Adams is expected to play in his 300th consecutive game tonight.

– Penguins defenseman Kris Letang averages 24:31 of ice time per game, 18th most in the NHL.

– The Jets average 13.2 penalty minutes per game, 5th most in the NHL.

– Jets forward Bryan Little will play in his 500th career NHL game tonight.

– Kane Watch: Evander Kane‘s next goal will be the 100th of his career.

– Penguins Top Face-off Guy: Marcel Goc (56.0%, 17th in NHL)

– Jets Top Face-off Guy: Jim Slater (58.0%, 8th in NHL)

– Who’s Under the Microscope for Pittsburgh: Simon Despres. Despres is now in his 4th season with the Penguins and is playing on the team’s third defense pairing with veteran Rob Scuderi. The 2009 1st round pick (30th overall) has struggled defensively at times this season and with other prospects in the system like Derrick Pouliot, this is an important year for Despres to show that he factors into the team’s future plans.

– Who’s Under the Microscope for Winnipeg: Evander Kane. Kane is still looking for his first goal of the year which will be the 100th of his career.

Special Teams Breakdown:

– Pittsburgh PP (41.3%, 1st in NHL), Pittsburgh PK (86.7%, 7th in NHL)

– Winnipeg PP (11.6%, 26th in NHL), Winnipeg PK (88.2%, 4th in NHL)

Projected Winnipeg Jets Line Combinations:

Evander Kane- Mark Scheifele- Blake Wheeler
Andrew Ladd- Bryan Little- Michael Frolik
Mathieu Perreault- Adam Lowry -Dustin Byfuglien
TJ Galiardi- Jim Slater- Chris Thorburn

Tobias Enstrom- Zach Bogosian
Mark Stuart- Jacob Trouba
Grant Clitsome- Paul Postma

Ondrej Pavelec
Michael Hutchinson

Healthy Scratches: Matt Halischuk, Adam Pardy

Projected Pittsburgh Penguins Line Combinations:

Chris Kunitz- Sidney Crosby – Patric Hornqvist
Pascal Dupuis- Evgeni Malkin- Blake Comeau
Nick Spaling- Brandon Sutter- Steve Downie
Zach Sill- Marcel Goc- Craig Adams

Paul Martin- Kris Letang
Christian Ehrhoff- Robert Bortuzzo
Rob Scuderi- Simon Despres

Marc-Andre Fleury
Thomas Greiss

Healthy Scratches: Scott Harrington

Injury Report:

Pittsburgh Penguins: Olli Maatta (neck), Derrick Pouliot (upper body), Beau Bennett (knee), Jeff Zatkoff (lower body)

Winnipeg Jets:  Anthony Peluso (upper body, IR)