Winnipeg Jets (4-6-3) at Florida Panthers (7-4-2)
Venue: Amerant Bank Arena
Date: Tonight – Friday, October 30
Time: 6:00 pm CST
How To Watch: TSN3
Radio: 680 CJOB

Purchase tickets via Ticketmaster

Winnipeg Jets News & Notes:

The Winnipeg Jets face a rapid turnaround tonight, desperate to arrest a painful seven-game winless slide in a tough road matchup against the Florida Panthers.

Winnipeg is trying to immediately turn the page on Thursday’s frustrating 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, where a disastrous second-period collapse erased a hard-fought early tie. Defenseman Neal Pionk did everything he could to power the team in his 600th career NHL game, lighting the lamp twice alongside a late goal from sniper Kyle Connor.

The defensive struggles prompted head coach Scott Arniel to pull starter Stuart Skinner, paving the way for newcomer Nico Daws to make a flawless nine-save relief appearance in his official Jets debut.

Daws is now projected for the starting crease tonight as the coaching staff seeks absolute stability on the backend of a back-to-back sequence. The puck drops at 6:00 PM CT on TSN3 as a highly pressured Winnipeg squad fights to salvage its Florida road swing.

Florida Panthers News & Notes:

The Florida Panthers look to extend their division lead tonight as they host the sliding Winnipeg Jets. Florida returns to home ice with an impressive record after some strong performances from Brady Tkachuk and the rest of the Panthers.

The grudge match between Winnipeg and Florida on Tuesday night will see Akira Schmid suit back up against the Jets. The defensive structure from Paul Maurice will continue to limit the amount of goals scored against in Aleksander Barkov’s absence.

As the Panthers look to continue their winning ways, they’ll aim to hand another deafening defeat to a Jets squad that has lost seven straight. Puck drop is at 7:00 PM ET on Scripps Sports.

Winnipeg Jets Projected Lines

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

Samberg – Pionk
Ferraro – DeMelo
Salomonsson – Bauer

Daws
Stevenson

Florida Panthers Projected Lines

B. Tkachuk – Bennett – M. Tkachuk
Verhaeghe – Reinhart – Vilmanis
Luostarinen – Lundell – Eller
Imama – Schwindt – Hathaway

Forsling – Ekblad
Mikkola – Jones
Kulikov – Gudas

Schmid
Black

Players To Watch:

Winnipeg Jets

Neal Pionk: The workhorse blueliner is playing with immense pride, entering tonight’s back-to-back fresh off a spectacular two-goal performance while continuing to eat massive top-pairing minutes.

Nico Daws: Following a perfect third-period relief appearance on Thursday night, the newly acquired netminder is squarely in the spotlight as he aims to spark a definitive turnaround for the sliding Jets.

Florida Panthers

Brady Tkachuk: The relentless winger is in elite form after strong performances earlier this week. He’s got multi-goal and multi-point games under his belt, and he’s cemented his role as a premier physical driver on Florida’s top line.

Sam Reinhart: Carrying a steady streak, Reinhart continues to flash high-end chemistry on special teams and remains a lethal threat on Florida’s top power play unit and in their top-six.

Next game

Winnipeg Jets – November 1 vs Carolina Hurricanes
Florida Panthers – November 2 vs Detroit Red Wings