Just Find a Way to Win: Washington Capitals vs. Game Day Winnipeg Jets

Maybe Saturday night hockey will give the Jets a much-needed win as the Jets battle the visiting Washington Capitals. The Jets lost 6-3 to the Bruins in Winnipeg on Thursday, as an early goal from Morgan Barron was quickly matched with three goals in a span of three minutes for the Bruins not long after. For the rest of the game, the Jets just never really played into it. Tonight’s opponent, the Capitals, continues to play like a top 5 team in the NHL, currently on a 3-0-2 streak in their last five games. The 28th overall 14-15-1 Winnipeg Jets and the 4th overall 18-9-4 Capitals will compete at the Canada Life Centre, two teams on completely different sides of the standings.

The Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals already played each other once this regular season in Washington on November 26. The Capitals won that game 4-3, as the Capitals defeated the Jets 35-21 on a night where Eric Comrie kept them in the game as long as possible. Tonight’s match is the final of only two matches this season. In their last ten games, the two teams have been fairly even, with the Jets’ record in those ten games sitting at 4-5-1.

The injury report for the Winnipeg Jets remains at just two names. Hellebuyck is inching closer to returning from knee surgery, and according to a report yesterday afternoon, it wasn’t entirely out of the question that Hellebuyck would start tonight. Haydn Fleury has been officially cleared to resume playing, and he continues to practice in hopes of cracking the lineup soon.

The Capitals have three players listed on their injury report, with two added in recent days. Former Winnipeg Jet Pierre-Luc Dubois is out long-term due to an abdominal injury and is expected to be out until early March. Ryan Leonard recently suffered a shoulder injury and is expected to be out until the end of December. Backup goaltender Charlie Lindgren has an upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day.

Jets projected lineup

Connor – Scheifele – Iafallo

Perfetti – deputy – Vilardi

Niederreiter – Lowry – Koepke

Barron–Toews–Nyquist

Morrissey-DeMelo

Samberg – Pionk

Stanley Schenn

Comrie

DiVincentiis

The unconfirmed starting goalkeeper is Eric Comrie. Dominic DiVincentiis (the Jets backup) likely won’t start until Hellebuyck returns, as his return is reportedly close. After Comrie’s most recent performance, he now has a record of 6-8-1 with a GAA of 3.30 and an SV% of .885. The rest of the Jets lineup remains unchanged as of this morning (from Tuesday night’s game). There were several announced lineup changes before the last game, so keep an eye on the Jets’ official X/Twitter account for any late additions or changes to the lineup before the puck drops.

Capitals expected line-up

Ovechkin-Strome-McMichael

Protas – Acidif – Wilson

Beauvillier–Dowd–Frank

Duhaime – Lapierre – Milan

Fehervary-Carlson

Chychrun-Roy

Sandin-Van Riemsdyk

Thompson

Björklund

The Capitals lineup is talented all around, with a good mix of youth and experience. There are several players on this team who are ‘on the rise’, which has led to their fantastic success in the first quarter of the season. Looking at the Capitals player stats through 31 games, Tom Wilson leads the way with 32 points. Logan Thompson is the unconfirmed starting goalkeeper. Thompson has been stellar this season and made a strong case for Team Canada, posting a 13-6-3 record with a GAA of 1.96 and an SV% of 0.926.

Jets player to watch: Morgan Barron

The Jets depth rating is still lacking, but one player who will hopefully contribute soon is Barron. As the Jets continue to shuffle the lines, Barron has already found himself on the wing and center with at least four different linemates this season. I’ve talked before about how Barron is one of those players who can play well in a variety of roles, but the Jets need to “stabilize” their forward lines at some point. In 24 games, Barron has 4 goals and 4 assists for 8 points. That doesn’t seem like much at first glance, but the fourth forward is currently on pace to surpass his career high of 21 points in 2022-2023.

Capital player to watch: Aliaksei Protas

At 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds, Protas is a forward you won’t miss when he’s on the ice. The 24-year-old from Belarus continues to develop into a strong two-way player who excels in a variety of roles. Protas has scored 3 goals in the last 5 games and in 31 games this season he has 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points. Protas’ ice time varies from game to game, but at times he is one of the Capitals’ forwards who gets the most ice time. Last season was Protas’ big breakout season, in which he scored 30 goals and added 36 assists for 66 points. Even with his size, Protas has done a great job of not taking penalties throughout his career, so he will be someone the Jets defenders will have to keep an eye on tonight.

The Puck Drop in Winnipeg is scheduled for just after 6pm CT. Tonight’s game will hopefully end with a much-needed win for the Jets, one way or another. Stay tuned here to Jets Nation for a recap of the action as the Jets look to give their fans a big win on Saturday night at the Canada Life Center.

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