Home at the Canada Life Centre for four straight: Winnipeg Jets game day 29

Follow us on our Jets Nation socials! X/Twitter: NHLJetsNation and on Instagram: JetsNationDotCa The positive vibes are back for the Winnipeg Jets following 2 straight victories on the road. The latest, a 4-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks, was again not the best hockey that the Jets have played this season, but they still managed…

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Dec 20, 2024 - 14:21
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Home at the Canada Life Centre for four straight: Winnipeg Jets game day 29

Follow us on our Jets Nation socials! X/Twitter: @NHLJetsNation and on Instagram: @JetsNationDotCa

The positive vibes are back for the Winnipeg Jets following 2 straight victories on the road. The latest, a 4-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks, was again not the best hockey that the Jets have played this season, but they still managed to find a way to pick up win number 20 in just their 28th game. If you’ve been watching the league standings lately, you’ll now see that the Capitals, Wild and Jets are all tied at the top of the table with 40 points.

This Sunday afternoon, the Jets begin the 1st of 4 straight games at the Canada Life Centre. Tonight’s matchup is against the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are currently last in the Metropolitan Division with a 11-12-3 record. The Jets have a 6-4-0 record in their 10 games against the Blue Jackets, with the most recent matchup coming just a month ago, where the Jets won 6-2. In the last 3 matchups, the Jets have outscored the Blue Jackets 17-3, so they’ll be looking to continue this stretch of dominating games against Columbus.

Going for their 3rd straight victory won’t be easy though, as the Jets are on their 2nd back-to-back game of the season. The Blue Jackets have lost 3 straight games, but they’re one of those teams that score a lot while allowing a lot of goals at the same time. The special teams have been a problem for the Blue Jackets all season, as they sit 28th in the league on the power play and 29th in the penalty kill.

Despite this game being a back to back, it appears that the Jets will be going right back to the same lineup from last night. Some wondered if this would be a good game to get some fresh legs in the lineup, utilizing players like David Gustafsson, Dylan Coghlan and Colin Miller who all haven’t played in a while now. I’m still not fully confident in a 3rd pairing of Stanley and Heinola, but I guess you can only hope that both players will get better to more they play this season.

Tonight’s starting goalie for the Blue Jackets will be Elvis Merzlikins. In 17 appearances, Merzilikins is 8-7-2, with a 3.07 GAA and a .889 save percentage. The Latvian netminder has struggled lately, including his last start where he allowed 4 goals on just 16 shots. Unless the Jets made an error with their projected lines graphic (seen at the bottom of this article), Connor Hellebuyck will be in goal tonight, despite starting yesterday against the Blackhawks. It’s very rare nowadays that you see goalies playing both games of a back to back, but it looks like Hellebuyck will be in goal again after a not so busy night in Chicago.

*Update, it appears that Eric Comrie is starting in goal tonight (makes sense on a back-to-back), and there was simply an error in the projected lineup graphic posted to the official Winnipeg Jets X / Twitter. Comrie is 3-3-0 in 6 starts this season with a 3.06 goals against average and a .903 save percentage.*

I expect this Sunday afternoon game to be a high scoring game. Both teams have had busy schedules lately, and fatigue will lead to mistakes, including penalties and goals. Puck drop is at 5 pm CT, and you can check back here post game for an instant reaction and recap on the Jets’ 29th game of the regular season.

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