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Kraken @ Jets PREVIEW: Unusual Flight Patterns

Seattle’s long road trip wraps up with a visit to the league leading Winnipeg Jets in Manitoba!

Player Photography provided by @Jennthulhu_Photos on Instagram!

The Need to Knows

  • The Time: 5pm PT
  • The Place: Canada Life Center, Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • Place to Watch: KONG, KHN, TSN-3
  • Place to Listen: Kraken Audio Network via KJR 93.3-FM
  • An Opposing Viewpoint: Arctic Ice Hockey

Know Your Enemy

  • The Jets are 30-12-3, which is good for 63 points and first in the Central Division and the Western Conference.
  • Kyle Connor is the head Jet in charge these days; having 59 points in 45 games.
  • He and Mark Scheifele share the top goalscoring in Winnipeg, with both having 26 in 45 games.
  • The Jets are still right at the top of the NHL in power play success, and Gabe Vilardi has benefitted greatly from it, as he has 10 goals on the man-advantage; a team leading figure.
  • Connor Hellebuyck is continuing a campaign that will probably see him as Team USA’s goaltender for the olympics…so long as he stays healthy. He’s got a league leading .929 SV% in 35 starts.

Game Preview

How do you solve a problem like the Jets?

By the analytics, the Jets are…fine. They don’t take too many shots, their unblocked shots are average, and their expected goals are…also fine! Definitely not crushing the other team in opportunities, but definitely controlling play in a positive direction, but not nearly to the extent of other teams. What brought this team to the very top of the NHL? Finish, and Goaltending.

I will be frank; the Jets have incredible goalscorers on their roster. Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele seem determined to lead, but it takes you two lines worth of Forwards to find the first player on their team without double-digit goals, and even further to find the first skater with less than five. They owe a great deal of their success to the work done by these offensive dynamos simply overwhelming their competition. They also owe a good amount of their success to Connor Hellebuyck; who has been an absolute monster in net for Winnipeg and there’s little to suggest that’s going to change any time soon.

If there’s any way past the Jets, historically it’s been either shutting down their offense (a hard ask), or exploiting their defense. Which is…maybe a little easier, given that over 60 minutes, they give up the 9th unblocked shot-attempts. The Kraken got damn close to proving that they weren’t the all-consuming juggernauts people made them out to be back in October after a quick comeback in the 3rd period; something they’ve recently done pretty quickly and easily, so if nothing else, this game will likely feel closer than it probably is for a good portion of the game given how much ice the Jets tend to cede to the other team.

The biggest challenge, as it has been all year for teams, is Hellebuyck. The Kraken will have to find a way to solve Hellebuyck before they figure out anything else, because if they can’t, no amount of decent backchecking or forechecking will be enough to save them if they can’t score.

They almost beat the Jets once, let’s see if they can do it for real this time.

LET’S GO KRAKEN, LET’S GO SQUIDS

Talking Points