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The Winnipeg Jets drew first blood in the season series with a solid 4-2 win on Saturday at Canada Life Centre. Now, the Minnesota Wild will try to return the favour in their own backyard as they battle for a second time in as many days.
Will there be some early New Year’s Eve fireworks between the Central Division rivals?
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The Wild weren’t happy after star forward Kirill Kaprizov took a couple third period cross-checks from Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon — which weren’t called by the officials — and couldn’t finish the game owing to an injury. Defenceman Jake Middleton dropped the gloves with Dillon in a spirited tilt. We’ll see if that’s the end of it, or if there’s some related carryover.
It’s not clear whether Kaprizov will be available today — there’s no morning skate given the back-to-back matinees, and there is some chatter from the Twin Cities that he could be out for a while — so Minnesota’s lineup is in a state of flux.
This morning, the Wild recalled former Jets forward Nic Petan as a possible replacement.
Goaltender Filip Gustavsson also got hurt and left after two periods, which meant today’s expected starter, Marc-Andre Fleury, got some additional work.
It marked Fleury’s 999th career NHL appearance, so he hits the magical 1,000 mark today, becoming just the fourth goaltender in NHL history to get there. He can also tie Patrik Roy for second on the all-time wins list. Throw in the fact the Wild won’t want to drop two straight to a team they’re chasing in the standings and they should be extremely motivated to salvage a split.
“I think they have a little bit of everything,” Jets forward Dominic Toninato said of his first impressions of the 2023-24 Minnesota squad following Saturday’s game. “They got speed, they got size, they’re physical, they’ve got a lot of playmakers. Big guys on the backend and they pressure you.”
The Jets would love to spoil the party and finish 2023 on the highest of notes. They are 9-1-2 in December. No lineup changes are expected, other than backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit getting the call for this one.
Here’s some other information to get you set:
FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: First off, let me wish all of you folks a very Happy New Year. Thanks for having us in your world and supporting the work we’re doing. It’s truly appreciated, and I hope 2024 is a great one.
The Jets continue to take care of business, and it was their depth that really came through on Saturday. I thought the Adam Lowry and Dominic Toninato lines — the so-called bottom six — were the two best, and they produced three big goals (two by Nino Niederreiter, one by Axel Jonsson-Fjallby). Cole Perfetti’s line had a lot of jump as well, with Alex Iafallo scoring a bit of a lucky one to get things off to a strong start.
Meanwhile, the top line of Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers and Gabe Vilardi had a second straight quiet outing, both at five-on-five and once again on the ice-cold power play. The fact Winnipeg can keep stringing together quality outings against quality opponents despite an obvious area that need improvement speaks volumes about this group. They are very, very good.
I’m expecting a surly, downright desperate Wild club in this one that will do everything possible gain the split this weekend. Buckle up!
KEN SAYS: First of all, let me echo Mike’s sentiments and wish everyone a Happy New Year. Although it’s still early in my return to the Free Press, I would like to express my gratitude to all readers for being along for this latest chapter in my writing journey. It’s been an interesting first 34 games of the Jets regular season and a rematch with the Wild seems like a fitting way for them to close out 2023.
Saturday was another tidy defensive effort for the Jets (who are up to 24 consecutive games allowing three goals or fewer) and they’ll look to follow that up against a Wild club that should be oozing urgency, since a weekend sweep would give Winnipeg a 12-point cushion in the Central Division standings.
The trio of Lowry, Niederreiter and Appleton did an excellent job against the top line of the Wild, winning the five-on-five battle 2-1, with Niederreiter scoring twice from the blue paint (which is what he called his office during his post-game interview with reporters). Even after scoring twice to get to 12 on the season, it was noteworthy that Niederreiter was unhappy with his line being on the ice for the goal against from Wild forward Matt Boldy that occurred just 20 seconds into the third period that made it a one-goal game before Jonsson-Fjallby restored the two-goal lead 2 minutes and 26 seconds later.
Although he didn’t end up recording any points on Saturday, Cole Perfetti was noticeable throughout the contest and finished with six shots on goal and a game-high 10 shot attempts in just over 13 minutes of ice time.
Today’s affair figures to be a feisty and physical one, so enjoy it.
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