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The Winnipeg Jets have been rotating wins and losses over the past five games but will be looking to build off a tidy 3-0 triumph Monday night over the Washington Capitals which kicked off this three-game homestand. Standing in their way is the NHL’s hottest team, the Nashville Predators, who have gone 10-0-2 in the last dozen to firmly put themselves in a playoff spot.
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“Nobody really expected them to be where they are right now,” Jets forward Nino Niederreiter, who was acquired from Nashville just before last year’s trade deadline, said following the morning skate. “Everybody is chipping in. It’s a long season and there’s a lot of games left. You’re not in until you’re in. They know that they’re on a great roll and they’re in a good spot right now, that’s what they definitely want to be in. But it’s a long way to go and it’s tough to maintain that.”
This is the third meeting between the Central Division rivals this season, with each team holding serve at home so far. Winnipeg won 6-3 on Nov. 9, while Nashville grabbed a 3-2 victory on Nov. 26.
“Well, not much works against them. They’re really deep, they’re well coached and they don’t give up a whole lot,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said of the hosts. “It’s going to be a real big test for us. It will test every facet of our game here.”
They’ll meet one more time in Music City on Apr. 9.
“It’s always a heavy, physical game. Central Division game. We kind of know what’s happening, what’s coming, every time we play these guys. So, we will be ready tonight,” said defenceman Neal Pionk.
The Jets are expected to roll out the same lineup as they did against the Capitals, meaning forwards Rasmus Kupari and David Gustafsson and defencemen Nate Schmidt and Logan Stanley will be the healthy scratches. Gabe Vilardi will miss a seventh straight game with an undisclosed medical issue.
“He’s working out. It’s slow. (It’s) coming around, but he’s not skating in the next couple of days, from what I understand,” said coach Rick Bowness. “That could change tomorrow. He could walk in here tomorrow and say, ‘I feel great. Let me go on the ice.’ So, at this point, we’re keeping him off the ice until he tells us that.”
Connor Hellebuyck gets the start in goal for the Jets, while Juuse Saros will guard the net for the Preds.
Here’s some other information to get you set:
FROM THE PRESS BOX
Ken says: Could this be a potential first-round matchup? It’s definitely one of the possibilities, depending on how the final quarter of the season for both teams goes. Many folks in both markets would welcome a rematch from the epic seven-game, second-round series from 2018.
The Jets have posted shutouts in two of their past three games and were blanked in the game in between, so they’ll be looking to start stacking sound defensive efforts here during the stretch run.
“Yeah, but that’s our bread and butter,” Bowness said. “We keep the puck out of our zone, we create offence from good team defence. We’re creating a lot, both in the Seattle game and last game we had a ton of chances, but we’re always about minimizing the chances against.”
It was a solid debut for both Tyler Toffoli and Colin Miller on Monday, and they’ll look to continue to work at settling in.
Tyler Toffoli (73) looked dangerous on the line with Sean Monahan (23). (Fred Greenslade / The Canadian Press files)
Toffoli looked dangerous on the line with Sean Monahan and Alex Iafallo and the trio connected for the tip-in goal from Iafallo. Miller played a steady game and unloaded his shot on several occasions. They figure to get more comfortable as things move along.
The Predators are playing a bit of a more wide-open style of game under first-year head coach Brunette and that means they occasionally lean on Saros, who is set to make his league-leading 53rd start of the season (and is 5-6-3 with a 2.45 GAA and .927 save percentage in 14 career starts against the Jets).
“He’s obviously a terrific goaltender. I was very impressed with the way that he works each and every day on his game,” said Niederreiter. “That was very cool to see how competitive he was. In practice, he never gave up on any shots at any given time. That was pretty remarkable to see.”
Offensively, Filip Forsberg leads the Predators in scoring (33 goals, 68 points in 66 games) and he’s been supported well by defenceman Roman Josi (15 goals, 63 points in 66 games) and free-agent additions Ryan O’Reilly (24 goals, 56 points in 66 games) and Gustav Nyquist (15 goals, 56 points in 66 games).
Mike says: Winnipegger Cody Glass made plenty of hockey headlines 11 days ago when he scored his first NHL hat trick in a 5-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche. Then, he gave an emotional post-game interview in which he was fighting back tears and talking about how much it meant to him. Tonight, the 24-year-old is expected to be a healthy scratch for a third straight game, this time in his hometown. What gives?
I get that the Predators are playing well, but that didn’t stop them from taking Glass out of a winning lineup last week. And yes, the sixth-overall pick from 2017 has struggled to establish himself as a regular this year, despite a breakthrough 2022-23 campaign in which he had career highs in goals (14), assists (21), points (35) and games played (72). He has just five goals, five helpers and 36 games this year. Glass is one of the good guys in the game, someone who is easy to root for, so this development stings.
Cody Glass celebrates his hat trick against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday with his teammates in Nashville, Tenn. (George Walker IV / The Associated Press files)
Perhaps, this is an example of Brunette using some tough love, which he did on his troops after a humiliating 9-2 loss on home ice on Feb. 15 to the Dallas Stars. On the ensuing road trip, Brunette cancelled an early arrival to Las Vegas that would have seen the players attend The Sphere to watch U2 perform. Considering they haven’t lost in regulation since, I guess that move worked out OK.
“When good things happen or bad things happen, we’re just sticking with it. There’s no panic in our game,” O’Reilly said of the hot streak. “We just seem to go right back to our little details and work our way out of it. We’ve done a great job of just being consistent with that, bending and not breaking when things do go wrong. Everyone in this room is just playing so hard. Right through the lineup, everyone is a part of it and everyone is making contributions.”
Perhaps, if Nashville can go on to win the Stanley Cup, Bono and company can perform at the championship parade. That would truly be a Beautiful Day for the franchise.
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