2. JET SET
The Jets come in on a four-game winning streak, three of which have come since they kicked off their six-game road trip... The Jets have also won five straight games on the road and have earned points in eight consecutive road games, going 7-0-1 with their last loss coming nearly two months ago (Jan. 13)... The Jets have also been highly successful on special teams on the road - they have killed 18 straight penalties, and in the last 13 road games, the Jets have gone 92.7% on the PK... On the power-play, the Jets are operating at 30.3%, going 10-for-33 on the road in the last 13 games.
3. STORYLINES LATELY...
Final meeting against the Jets this season after the Flyers took a 3-2 shootout loss at Winnipeg on Nov. 16... The Flyers have had success against the Jets at the Wells Fargo Center, winning five straight dating back to February of 2013... Since the team moved to Winnipeg, the Flyers have earned points in six of seven home games against the Jets, going 5-1-1... On the injury front, the Flyers recalled defenseman Travis Sanheim under emergency conditions and the rookie defenseman will be available for today's game... Jets star center, Mark Scheifele will not be in the lineup with an upper-body injury, while goaltender Steve Mason has a lower-body injury and will not make the start against his former team.
4. A HELPING HAND
Tonight's game pits three of the four NHL assist leaders against each other in Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek and Blake Wheeler who are all tied at top of the league with 57 helpers... Giroux has reached 80 points for the third time in his NHL career and first since the 2013-14 season when he had 86 points... Voracek reaches the 70-point mark for the second time in his NHL career and is two shy of his career high in assists (2014-15: 59a)... Wheeler has already posted a career high in assists and is three points shy of his career high in points (2015-16: 78).
5. PLAYERS TO WATCH:
FLYERS (C: #19 - Nolan Patrick)
Patrick is one of the hottest Flyers as of late - Over the last three weeks (since Feb. 16) he leads all NHL rookies in goals (5) and is third in points (9) in his last 11 games... Patrick comes into tonight's game with points in two straight (2a) and three of his last four (1g-3a)... Since the NHL All-Star break, Patrick is tied for the lead among all rookies with seven goals and is fifth in points (13) while averaging 15:45 of ice time.
JETS (RW: #29 - Patrik Laine)
Laine has been a goal-scoring machine lately... He has a four-game goal-scoring streak where he has posted eight goals... That streak is also part of a larger point streak in which he has points in 10 straight games putting up 14 goals and 20 points... The streak has vaulted him to the top of the NHL's Rocket Richard race ranking second among all NHL players with 39 goals, one behind Alex Ovechkin.
