The Winnipeg Jets showed very little passion when they were cake walked by the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night, it will be interesting to see how the players perform tonight after a closed door meeting was called by, I am assuming, an unhappy Adam Lowry.

Wednesday’s clash involves a pair of Canadian NHL franchises that have seen their playoff hopes take a hit with a recent string of bad results. The fans of the True North franchise knows the Jets (13-12-0) have not done well over their past 10 games, amassing a 4-6-0 record. But the Montreal Canadiens (13-9-3) have also struggled of late, with an even worse 3-6-1 stat line over their latest 10 contests.

In a bit of a rush today, so lets jump to a look at Winnipeg & Montreal’s seasons by checking out ESPN‘s team & goaltender comparison numbers:

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The stats are saying that the Canadiens have the better offense, yet they also appear to be worse defensively. The active goalies on both teams aren’t lighting it up so far, with Jets’ star Connor Hellebuyck recovering for surgery.

So maybe we have a shot at watching a somewhat equally contested affair when play gets underway at 6:30 pm Central?

Here is how PuckPedia has the predicted line ups for tonight’s clash:

WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP

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MONTREAL CANADIENS LINE UP

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The Winnipeg coaching staff made three changes to the line up in an attempt to light some kind of fire in his club. You know the Jets lack defensive depth when I am elated that Neal Pionk is returning to the ice tonight, but some of that could be because Elias Salomonsson will get a chance to show what he can do on the 3rd pairing. Which is really where you want to ease a rookie into the line up, even if Logan Stanley is suited up on the other side.

Cole Koepke will also make another appearance on the 4th line after sitting out a few contests, taking the place of Gustav Nyquist. Based on my recent statistical review, that doesn’t seem like the correct choice and would have rather seen Tanner Pearson instead.

That is all the time I have this afternoon…..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:

I guess it depends on how the Jets-Habs contest unfolds in order for me to answer when I will add my post-game thoughts. Another blowout will probably delay it until tomorrow morning….but I will add the stats to the article before I go to sleep.