Game Day Set-Up: Stars @ Jets

When: Saturday, January 31, 2015

Time: 6:00 p.m. CST

Where: MTS Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Records: Winnipeg Jets (26-16-8, 60 points, 5th in West), Dallas Stars (22-19-7, 51 points, 10th in West)

Television/Radio: CITY, TXA-21/ TSN 1290 Radio

On the Horizon: Monday, February 2nd on the road against the Calgary Flames (8:00 p.m. CST)

Last Game: 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers

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, 21 assists, 33 points), Mathieu Perreault (17 goals, 14 assists, 31 points)

Dallas Stars: Tyler Seguin (28 goals, 25 assists, 53 points), Jamie Benn (16 goals, 28 assists, 44 points), Jason Spezza (8 goals, 27 assists, 35 points), Trevor Daley (12 goals, 12 assists, 24 points), Erik Cole (12 goals, 11 assists, 23 points)

Game Day Notes:

– The Jets return home for one game and have lost two in a row and are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.

– Jets Home Record: 12-9-3 (17th best home record in NHL)

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

– The Jets have allowed 10 goals in the last two games (two empty net goals)

– The Jets are 9-4-2 against the Central Division this year.

– Dallas is 4-5-1 in their last 10 games.

– As per Mark Stepneski of Stars Inside Edge, Dallas is 6-2-2 in their last 10 games on the road.

– This is the third of four meetings between the Jets and Stars this year. The Jets have already defeated the Stars twice this year, 2-1 on January 15th and 5-2 in Winnipeg on December 9th.

– As per Paul Wiecek of the Winnipeg Free Press, Michael Hutchinson is expected to start in goal for the Jets tonight. In 22 games this season, Hutchinson has a record of 14-5-2 with a 2.00 Goals Against Average and .932 Save Percentage and two shutouts.

– Kari Lehtonen is expected to start in net for the Stars tonight. In 41 games this season, Lehtonen has a record of 20-11-7 with a 2.99 Goals Against Average and .903 Save Percentage.

– According to Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News, Brett Ritchie and Erik Cole (upper body) are still not yet ready to return from injury.

–  On Friday the Jets announced that Matt Halischuk was being placed on Injured Reserve. The Jets re-called TJ Galiardi from the St.John’s IceCaps (AHL)

– The Jets are expected to shake up their defense pairings for tonight’s game based on Saturday’s morning skate. Dustin Byfuglien, who has been paried with Ben Chiarot for most of this season, was paired with Tobias Enstrom while Chiarot was paired with Zach Bogosian, normally paired with Enstrom.

– Red Hot for Winnipeg: Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien has three goals and eight assists in the last 9 games.

– Red Hot for Dallas: Jamie Benn has eight points (four goals, four assists) over the last five games

– Cold: Mark Scheifele has not scored a goal since January 11th against Anaheim (7 games without a goal)

– The Stars average 3.12 goals for/game, 3rd in the NHL. The Jets average 2.72 goals for/game, 17th in the NHL.

– The Stars average 3.25 goals against/game, 28th in the NHL. The Jets average 2.46 goals against/game, 7th in the NHL.

– Defenseman Trevor Daley leads all Stars in ice time, averaging 23:44 of ice time per game. Defenseman Alex Goligoski is right behind him averaging 23:43 of ice time per game.

– Stars Top Face-off Guy: Jason Spezza (54.5%)

– Jets Top Face-off Guy: Jim Slater (56.2%)

Special Teams Breakdown:

– Dallas PP (16.0%, 25th in NHL), Dallas PK (79.0%, 24th in NHL)

– Winnipeg PP (17.3%, 21st in NHL), Winnipeg PK (82.7%, 11th 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
TJ Galiardi- Jim Slater- Anthony Peluso

Tobias Enstrom- Dustin Byfuglien
Ben Chiarot- Zach Bogosian
Mark Stuart- Jacob Trouba

Michael Hutchinson
Ondrej Pavelec

Healthy Scratches: Adam Pardy, Paul Postma

Projected Dallas Stars Line Combinations:

Jamie Benn- Tyler Seguin- Patrick Eaves
Shawn Horcoff- Jason Spezza- Ales Hemsky
Antoine Roussel- Cody Eakin – Ryan Garbutt
Travis Moen- Vernon Fiddler- Colton Sceviour

Alex Goligoski-John Klingberg
David Schlemko- Trevor Daley
Jordie Benn- Jason Demers

Kari Lehtonen
Anders Lindback

Healthy Scratches: Jamie Oleksiak

Injury Report:

Dallas Stars: Erik Cole (upper body), Valeri Nichushkin (hip), Patrick Nemeth (arm)

Winnipeg Jets: Grant Clitsome (back surgery, indefinitely), Matt Halischuk (lower body, Injured Reserve)