A quick two-game home stop at Rogers Arena concludes with a battle between the Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night for an all-Canadian matchup on Hockey Night in Canada.
The Winnipeg Jets were slumping in early February but have found their winning ways once again after allowing just one goal on their two-game homestand earlier this week. Saturday’s game kicks off a mini road trip for the Jets as they will travel to Calgary for a game on Monday.
This will be the first of three meetings between the Canucks and Jets. The teams will face each other once again in Vancouver on March 9th for game 66 of the Canucks season before they travel to Winnipeg for the final game of the regular season on April 18th.
Connor Hellebuyck is the leading man for the Jets and holds a .926% save percentage on the season to go along with his 25 wins and three shutouts. Hellebuyck has allowed two goals or less in 68% of his starts this season and is playing some of the best hockey of his nine-year NHL career.
Saturday has the potential to be a matchup of the league’s best two goalies if Thatcher Demko gets the start. Both teams can score at a high rate and these goalies have their work cut out for them but have been up to the task all season long.
The Jets’ forward lines find strength in the depth they possess. Only two of their forwards average over 17 minutes of ice time per game (Mark Scheifele-20:17 & Kyle Connor-20:10). Their top-six includes Nikolaj Ehlers, Cole Perfetti, Gabriel Vilardi and the newly acquired Sean Monahan.
Nino Niederreiter has been providing depth scoring for their bottom-six this season and is up to 10 goals at even-strength this season. Morgan Barron has nine goals on the fourth line and Adam Lowry has eight on the season including one goal while shorthanded.
On defence, their horse is 28-year-old Josh Morrissey. Fresh off picking up the fifth most votes for the Norris Trophy in the 2022-23 season, Morrissey continues to contribute offensively while eating up an average of 24:18 per game for the Jets. Morrissey skates with Dylan DeMelo on the top-pairing and that duo has strong control of the goal share at five-on-five. When Morrissey and DeMelo are on the ice together, the Jets have scored 39 goals and allowed just 20 against. This is good enough for a 66.1% control of the goal share.
The depth of the defence consists of former Canuck Nate Schmidt, big Logan Stanley, offensively gifted Neal Pionk and Saginaw, Minnesota native Dylan Samberg.
Quick Hits on the Competition:
- The Jets have four players with over 100 hits this season: Brendan Dillon (137), Neal Pionk (135), Adam Lowry (110), and Dylan DeMelo (109).
- There will be seven players who are 6’3” or taller in the lineup for Winnipeg, so you can expect a physical game with some juice for a big Saturday night matchup.
- Sean Monahan was traded to the Jets in exchange for a first-round pick and a conditional third-round pick. Monahan has not picked up a point in his four games with the Jets and is a –2.
- 22-year-old Cole Perfetti is the power play leader for the Jets with five goals on the man-advantage this season. The Jets rank 26th in the league with a power play that is clicking at 14.8%.
- As for penalty kill, they sit 25th in the league with a 77.7% kill rate. Vladislav Namestnikov, Mason Appleton and Adam Lowry each have a shorthanded goal.
The Canucks currently sit atop the NHL standings and are the first to to eclipse the 80-point mark.
Saturday’s game wraps up the mini homestand before the team heads out to play three games in four nights as they travel through Minnesota, Colorado, and Seattle.
Thatcher Demko picked up his 30th win of the season on Thursday night, making him the first goalie to reach 30 wins this season. Demko is 12-1-0 over his last 13 starts and over that stretch, he has a .922% save percentage and has picked up a pair of shutouts.
Elias Pettersson’s three-point night against the Detroit Red Wings propelled him into fifth place for points. He’s now at 72 on the season through 55 games played. Pettersson has 21 multi-point games this season and has had 10 of them on home ice.
Recently, we’ve seen an all-Swedish line play together with Elias Lindholm and Nils Höglander joining Pettersson in a top-six role. The trio has only played 16 minutes together this season but has been on the ice for four goals scored and zero goals against.
Quinn Hughes has expanded his lead as the leader in points from a defenceman and is now six points up on Cale Makar. Hughes has 66 points this season and has 15 points over his last dozen games.
BC-born Noah Juulsen has been blocking a ton of shots lately on the penalty kill and has catapulted himself into 6th place for blocked shots per 60 minutes while shorthanded. Juulsen has gone 22 straight games with a registered blocked shot and has 42 over that stretch of games. He’s also up to 116 hits in just 38 games played.
Canucks’ Top Performers over Last Five:
Elias Pettersson: 1g-6a-7p
Filip Hronek: 1g-4a-5p
Nils Höglander: 3g-1a-4p
Conor Garland: 3g-0a-3p
Elias Lindholm: 2g-1a-3p
Saturday night’s game will be a 7:00 pm PT start time and you can watch the game on Hockey Night in Canada or listen to the radio broadcast on Sportsnet 650.
