Game Day Set-Up: Wild @ Jets

When: Monday, December 29th, 2014

Time: 7:00 p.m. CST

Where: MTS Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Records: Winnipeg Jets (19-10-7, 45 points, 5th in West), Minnesota Wild (16-13-4, 36 points, 10th in West)

Television/Radio: FS-W, FS-N, TSN3/ TSN 1290 Radio

On the Horizon: Wednesday, December 31st at home against the New York Islanders (4:00 p.m. CST).

Last Game: 4-3 win (overtime) over the Minnesota Wild

Top Scorers:

Winnipeg Jets: Andrew Ladd (12 goals, 15 assists, 27 points), Blake Wheeler (11 goals, 15 assists, 26 points), Bryan Little (14 goals, 11 assists, 25 points), Dustin Byfuglien (8 goals, 12 assists, 20 points), Mark Scheifele (6 goals, 13 assists, 19 points)

Minnesota Wild: Zach Parise (13 goals, 14 assists, 27 points), Jason Pominville (8 goals, 18 assists, 26 points), Ryan Suter (1 goal, 21 assists, 22 points), Thomas Vanek (6 goals, 15 assists, 21 points), Nino Niederreiter (13 goals, 4 assists, 17 points)

Game Day Notes:

– The Jets are 6-1-3 in their last 10 games.

– Jets Home Record: 8-6-3.

– The Jets have scored the first goal 13 out of the last 17 games.

– The Wild are 5-6-4 in their last 14 games. Minnesota is 7-9-0 on the road this year.

– This is the third of five meetings between the Jets and Wild this year. Each team was won a game so far this year.

– According to Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun, Michael Hutchinson will start in net for the Jets tonight. It will be Hutchinson’s third consecutive start. In 14 games this year, Hutchinson has a record of 9-2-2 with a .939 Save Percentage and 1.77 Goals Against Average

–  Evander Kane (lower body) will not play tonight. After today’s game day practise, Jets Head Coach Paul Maurice said Kane will be out until early February. The injury may have to do with Kane taking a Jay Harrison slap shot off the right leg during the third period of Saturday’s game against Minnesota. Kane was in some discomfort on the bench after the play.

– With Kane out of the line-up tonight, Tj Galiardi checks back into the line-up tonight. Galiardi has not played since December 11 at Colorado.

– On Sunday, the Jets recalled forward Patrice Cormier from the St. John’s IceCaps (AHL). Cormier has five goals and five assists in 21 games for the IceCaps this season.

– Jets forward Mathieu Perreault had his eight game points streak snapped on Saturday night versus the Wild (five goals, four assists).

– Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien enters tonight’s game on a four game points streak (one goal, three assists)

– According to Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Darcy Kuemper will start in net for the Wild tonight. In 23 games this season, Kuemper has a record of 11-10-3, 2.64 Goals Against Average and .901 Save Percentage.

– According to Russo, Wild forwards Mikael Granlund (wrist) and Jonas Brodin (upper body) did not travel with the team to Winnipeg and will not play tonight. The Wild placed Granlund on Injured Reserve on Sunday. According to Russo, Granlund had successful surgery on Monday and is expected to be out of the line-up for approximately four weeks.

– On Sunday the Wild re-called forwards Brett Sutter and Tyler Graovac from the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League. Sutter has six goals and nine assists in 30 games for the Wild this season while Graovac has 12 goals and 12 assists in 31 games. Both players will be in the line-up for the Wild tonight. It will be Graovac’s first NHL game.

– On Sunday the Wild re-assigned defenseman Justin Falk (Snowflake, Manitoba) to the Iowa Wild (AHL). Falk has played nine games for the Wild this year.

– Milestone Watch: Jets defenseman Paul Postma needs to play 6 more games to reach 100 career games played.

– Defenseman Ryan Suter leads all Wild in ice time, averaging 29:36 of ice time per game.

– Wild Top Face-off Guy: Mikko Koivu (55.6%)

– Jets Top Face-off Guy: Jim Slater (55.6%)

– Who’s Under the Microscope for Minnesota: Tyler Graovac. The 6’5” center from Brampton, Ontario will make his NHL debut tonight and will play on the third line between Matt Cooke and Justin Fontaine. Graovac was a 7th round pick (191st overall) in 2011.

– Who’s Under the Microscope for Winnipeg: TJ Galiardi. Galiardi has been a healthy scratch for the past six games so he will be looking to make an impact for the Jets tonight.

Special Teams Breakdown:

– Minnesota PP (14.4%, 26th in NHL), Minnesota PK (87.0%, 4th in NHL)

– Winnipeg PP (15.2%, 24th in NHL), Winnipeg PK (84.9%, 8th in NHL)

Projected Winnipeg Jets Line Combinations:

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

Ben Chiarot- Dustin Byfuglien
Adam Pardy- Paul Postma
Jay Harrison- Grant Clitsome

Michael Hutchinson
Ondrej Pavelec

Healthy Scratches: Julien Brouillette, Patrice Cormier

Projected Minnesota Wild Line Combinations:

Zach Parise- Mikko Koivu- Jason Pominville
Nino Niederreiter- Charlie Coyle-  Thomas Vanek
Matt Cooke- Tyler Graovac- Justin Fontaine
Brett Sutter- Kyle Brodziak- Ryan Carter

Ryan Suter- Jared Spurgeon
Marco Scandella- Christian Folin
Nate Prosser- Stu Bickel

Darcy Kuemper
John Curry

Healthy Scratches: Erik Haula

Injury Report:

Minnesota Wild: Niklas Backstrom (illness), Keith Ballard (concussion), Josh Harding (illness), Jason Zucker (illness), Mikael Granlund (IR, wrist), Jonas Brodin (upper body)

Winnipeg Jets:  Tobias Enstrom (lower body, IR), Zach Bogosian (lower body), Jacob Trouba (upper body, IR), Mark Stuart (lower body), Evander Kane (lower body)