Winnipeg Jets (4-5-3) at Tampa Bay Lightning (7-3-1)
Venue: Amalie Arena
Date: Tonight – Thursday, October 29
Time: 6:00 pm CST
How To Watch: TSN3
Radio: 680 CJOB

Purchase tickets via Ticketmaster

Winnipeg Jets News & Notes:

Winnipeg Jets open a highly demanding four-game road trip tonight, desperately fighting to break out of a six-game winless slump against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Winnipeg is trying to rapidly recover from Tuesday’s dismal 5-1 home loss to the Florida Panthers, where a lone short-handed goal from Adam Lowry couldn’t salvage a disastrous first-period special teams collapse.

Shifting the focus to tonight’s clash, number-one goaltender Stuart Skinner returns to the starting crease to provide needed stability on the backend. The lineup remains heavily shorthanded, as newly acquired forward Nick Bjugstad has joined star blueliner Josh Morrissey on the injured shelf with an upper-body ailment.

Desperate for an offensive awakening from quiet stars Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele, head coach Scott Arniel chose not to run traditional line combinations at morning skate, indicating seismic tactical adjustments are imminent. The puck drops at 6:00 PM CT on TSN3 as the Jets look to hand the high-flying Lightning their first home loss of the campaign.

Tampa Bay Lightning News & Notes:

The Tampa Bay Lightning aim to extend their perfect home record tonight, as they host the slumping Winnipeg Jets at Amalie Arena. Shifting focus to tonight’s clash, elite goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy returns to his home crease fully locked in after a sharp 26-save outing earlier in the week.

He will be backed by a completely healthy defensive corps led by captain Victor Hedman, which has successfully snuffed out 14 consecutive opposing power plays. The puck drops at 7:00 PM ET on FanDuel Sports Network as the Lightning look to hand the sliding Jets another frustrating road defeat.

Winnipeg Jets Projected Lines

Subject to change

Connor – Scheifele – Perfetti
Iafallo – Bjorck – Mercer
Rosen – Lowry – Vilardi
Koepke – Barron – Lambert

Samberg – Pionk
Ferraro – DeMelo
Fleury – Salomonsson

Skinner
Daws

Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines

Goncalves – Point – Kucherov
Hagel – Cirelli – Guentzel
Mikheyev – James – Holmberg
Viel – Geekie

Moser – Carlson
McDonagh – Cernak
D’Astous – Lilleberg
Hedman

Vasilevskiy
Hildeby

Players To Watch:

Winnipeg Jets

Adam Lowry: The captain remains the emotional anchor of the team, carrying momentum into Tampa after breaking the team’s scoring drought with an elite short-handed goal on Tuesday.

Gabriel Vilardi: Amid a general power outage among top-six forwards, Vilardi has been the lone consistent producer with three points in his last four games as he steps into top-tier power-play responsibilities.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Nikita Kucherov: The dynamic winger is playing at an MVP-caliber pace; he’ll aim to continue his scorching hot offence tonight against the Jets.

Jake Guentzel: Fitting seamlessly into the Lightning’s top unit, Guentzel continues to flash high-end chemistry with Kucherov, fresh off burying a premium power-play goal on Tuesday.

Next game

Winnipeg Jets – October 30 vs Florida Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning – October 31 vs Nashville Predators