Game Day: Winnipeg Jets vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
It was a long two weeks the Winnipeg Jets would like to forget, but they finally return home tonight after a six-game road trek as the Columbus Blue Jackets make their lone visit to Canada Life Centre. It also marks Winnipeg’s first game of a three-game homestand.The Jets wrapped up their season-long road trip in Calgary on Saturday with a 4-3 shootout win over the Flames. Mark Scheifele, Tanner Pearson, and Cole Perfetti scored in regulation, Gabriel Vilardi netted the shootout winner, and Connor Hellebuyck turned aside 31 shots.Columbus comes in on the second half of a back-to-back after playing Montreal last night. The Blue Jackets edged the Canadiens 4-3 in a shootout, with Kirill Marchenko scoring the deciding goal. Zach Werenski, Adam Fantilli, and Dmitri Voronkov tallied in regulation, while Jet Greaves stopped 29 of 32 shots.
These cross-conference opponents will meet only twice this season, with the rematch set for April 4 in Columbus.
Winnipeg’s lineup will look much healthier tonight after the team announced yesterday that forwards Morgan Barron and Cole Koepke were activated from injured reserve. Defenceman Haydn Fleury remains the lone Jet on IR. To make room for Barron and Koepke, the club loaned Nikita Chibrikov, Parker Ford, and Brad Lambert to the Manitoba Moose.
Connor – Scheifele – Vilardi
Namestnikov – Toews – Perfetti
Niederreiter – Lowry – Iafallo
Pearson – Barron – Nyquist
Morrissey – DeMelo
Samberg – Pionk
Stanley – Schenn
Hellebuyck
Comrie
Up next:
Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. CST on TSN3.