The Winnipeg Jets will be a rested and pissed off hockey club tonight so it will behoove the Edmonton Oilers to slam their foot down on the gas pedal early and not let up. They can’t give the Jets even a little bit of daylight in this one because there’s a little bit of desperation creeping in here. Going home to play the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-4-0 would ease the pressure a lot more than 3-5-0.
Here are three players that I think you should keep an eye on for the Jets tonight (should they be in the lineup),
- #27 Nik Ehlers – How dangerous is this guy? He was Winnipeg’s best player on the weekend. It’s hard NOT to watch him when he’s on the ice and he’s kinda sneaky too when it comes to bending the rules.
- #37 Connor Hellebuyck – Last year’s Vezina trophy winner should enter the fray for the Jets and that should bode well for his teammates. No offence to Laurent Brossoit, he’s not even close to Hellebuyck. How about this fun little stat courtesy of Oilers Nation,
Hellebuyck started his career 0-4 against the Oilers with a .857Sv% and 4.76 GAA, but since October, 2017 he is 7-1-1 with a .919sv% and 2.43 GAA. The reigning Vezina trophy winner gives the Jets a legitimate chance to win every night, and Edmonton will need a much better start, and a consistent effort throughout if they want to even their record at 4-4. In his 60 starts, dating back to the start of last season, Hellebuyck has allowed three or more goals 28 times and the Jets are 7-18-3 in those games. When he allows two goals or fewer they are 26-4-2.
- #22 Mason Appleton – Had a 69% Corsi For last time out. Actually, his line with Adam Lowry and Mathieu Perreault was fantastic in that game. He’s a real scoring threat in Winnipeg’s bottom-six.
For Winnipeg to have success, their goaltender is going to have to be lights out. The forwards on Edmonton are starting to get a little mojo and if he can make some otherworldly saves and steal some of the Oilers’ fire, especially on special teams, that could be all the Jets need to close this one out. We know they are tenacious checkers and that has to be part of their gameplan given how Edmonton is struggling to move the puck out of their end.
Players like Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler are going to have to show up too. I hardly noticed them before.
Is Kyle Connor 100%? He left Sunday’s tilt for a little while.
With regards to the away team, I’ll be watching these three individuals closely for Edmonton,
- #13 Jesse Puljujarvi – Can Pulju treat us to a repeat performance? Maybe there’s a goal on his stick tonight? He’s had a run of games where’s demolished at least one player on the other team, will he continue that streak?
- #21 Dominik Kahun – Snakebitten might be putting it lightly. Little Kahuna is doing all he can right now but it’s just not going in. That said, you can’t really ask him to do much more because it’s not like he’s sitting on the outside or waiting for the game to come to him. He’s all up in it and there’s a goal coming soon.
- #22 Tyson Barrie – I’d argue Barrie has been worse than Adam Larsson considering what he was brought to Edmonton for. Larsson might fire a puck off the glass or up the boards when he’s left with no choice, but at least he’s not getting caught at his own blue line bringing the puck up the ice and gifting the opposition chances that way.
Tyler Ennis cleared waivers, so that paves the way for the club to insert Evan Bouchard into the lineup as its seventh defenseman. But as Jack Michaels has tweeted out, Uncle Evan won’t be coming in on this night. It’ll actually be Caleb Jones getting the call for Slater Koekkoek who’s been blocking some really painful looking shots lately. It doesn’t surprise me that he’s getting a night off. Pressure’s on Jones now.
Eyes & Ears from WPG:
RNH-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Kahun-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Neal-Turris-Kassian
Archibald-Khaira-P. RussellNurse-Bear
K. Russell-Barrie
Jones-LarssonKoskinen
— Jack Michaels (@EdmontonJack) January 26, 2021
Devin Shore is out as is Tyler Ennis. JJ Khaira is back in and The Great Dane Patrick Russell will make his season debut. It will be interesting to see how Khaira responds because when he’s on, he’s a very fine 4C and I can’t wait to see Russell work his magic on the boards. F*cking guy is like a rabid bulldog on the wall.
What do the Oilers need to do to win this one?
Winnipeg has a very formidable forecheck, so Edmonton’s defense is going to need to have a great, not good or above average, a GREAT game with regards to moving that puck to their forwards. On that note, the forwards must come back a little deeper and help out their blueliners who are under immense pressure. Head on swivel baby and mind the slot.
On the note of putting pressure on a defense, the Jets’ defenders aren’t that good this year and they had a hard time with players like Pulju, Archibald, and Yamamoto on Sunday night.
The powerplay and the penalty kill have to be spot on this evening. Part of having two MVPs on your club has to come with owning one of the scariest powerplays in the game and that’s simply not been the case so far and it has to be draining on the team.
It would be nice to see the line of James Neal, Kyle Turris, and Zack Kassian have a fine game. It could very well match-up nicely against the Jets third line, which is one of the best in the league if you ask me.
I like Edmonton’s chances tonight. It looked like they were building some momentum in their previous meeting with Winnipeg and surely that last-second win will have the boys still glowing. Let’s hope they do something about that ever-growing volume of shots Mikko Koskinen is seeing though.
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