The two National Hockey League franchises that will face off tonight at the Canada Life Centre have been heading in opposite directions lately. The visiting Boston Bruins (18-13-0) have excelled over their past 5 games, walking away with a 4-1-0 record as they have out-scored the opposition 21 to 12. The Winnipeg Jets (14-14-1) on the other hand, have a 1-3-1 record over the same span, while being out-paced 19-12 in the goal department.

The True Northers have reached new depths as they sit in a tie for the 5th worst record in the NHL, while the Bean Towners are in a three-way tie for the 10th best. Probably quite a few pundits had things predicted differently for the defending Presidents’ Trophy winners and a club that finished in a tie for the 4th worst record in the league. The jinx of being the best regular season team in the NHL appears to be real, as our Jets need to make quite the transformation in the final 65% of the season if they hope to avoid the join the list of teams that failed to qualify for the playoffs after winning that piece of hardware.

On the bright side for Winnipeg’s future win-loss record, starting goaltender Connor Hellebuyck appears to be making a very quick recovery from knee surgery, as he has hit the ice the past two days and some media are even reporting that they expect Bucky to be back in the crease as early as next week. There are more issues to solve than goaltending for our club, but his return could very likely turn some games from defeats to victories.

Lets jump to a look at Winnipeg & Boston’s seasons by checking out ESPN‘s team & goaltender comparison numbers:

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The team stats above don’t suggest a huge difference between the two franchises, with most numbers being close except for the Bruins’ lead in categories like penalty minutes, powerplay, & penalty killing. Jeremy Swayman has bounced back from an off year and has provided the east coast franchise with quality play in the net. Jets’ tender Eric Comrie has played very well while filling in for the injured Bucky, yet the stat line & win-loss record doesn’t show that much because of how the club has played in front of him.

Winnipeg did not do line rushes during their skate today, so no real insight as to what the roster will look like….other than the fact that Gustav Nyquist was deployed on the 2nd powerplay unit, which suggests that he will be back in the line up after missing a couple contests. No clue who is coming out, though Illegal Curve is suggesting it will be Tanner Pearson.

Keeping that in mind, lets move on & go check out PuckPedia‘s predicted line ups for tonight’s clash, which are based on the club’s last games:

WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP

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BOSTON BRUINS LINE UP

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Boston’s biggest stars this year have been forwards David Pastrnak & Morgan Geekie, who have both exploded for 32 points. Winnipeg can counter with their own dynamic duo in Mark Scheifele & Kyle Connor, who have amassed 38 & 37 points respectively.

Of course, the difference comes when you look at the secondary scorers, with the Bruins have a huge advantage over the Jets in that area. The B’s have 14 different skaters with at least 10 points in 2025-26, compared to just 7 for the True Northers. That explains why Boston is out-scoring Winnipeg 101 to 88 this year.

The Jets’ most recent game was fairly competitive and actually somewhat enjoyable to watch. Can our team put up 2 in a row?? We will have to wait for the 7 pm Central start to find out.

Go Winnipeg!!!!!

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POST-GAME INFO

Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)

FINAL SCORE:  

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Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)

Expected Goals (all): 

Expected Goals (5on5):  

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BOJA’S Post-Game Thoughts:

As usual, will add scoring summary & stats about an hour after the conclusion of the Boston-Winnipeg game. Depending on the level of alertness at that point, I may add my thoughts then or wait until Friday morning if I am too tired.