Game Preview: A Different Winnipeg Jets Team Awaits Avalanche at Ball Arena

Something feels different about this year’s Winnipeg Jets. After two straight 50+ win seasons and three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Jets find themselves a game below .500 at nearly the halfway mark of the regular season.

And for the first time this season, the Avalanche take on Connor Hellebuyck and the rest of the 15-16-2 Jets.

“It’s a really good team again. Every team is going to go through their little bumps in the road and whatnot, and there’s came more likely due to some injuries that they’ve had, and now they’re getting healthy and playing pretty well,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “So we know it’s a dangerous team. They’re highly committed to the way they play, and should be a good contest here tonight.”

Colorado enters the matchup riding an 11-game home winning streak and a three-game streak overall. For the Avs, it’s been a season of consistency more than it was in years past.

It’s a far cry from where they were at the beginning of the calendar year. The last time Colorado played Winnipeg was on Jan. 22. The Avs lost in OT that night, ending an abysmal six-game homestand in what ended up being the final game of Mikko Rantanen’s Avalanche career.

Their consistency now shows in the lineup, which rarely changes from game to game. It also shows in how they perform on the ice. With just two regulation losses thus far, they’ll look to start their season series against the Jets on a high note.

“I’m looking at the things that we need to do to have success. That’s always our primary focus,” Bednar said.

Scott Wedgewood gets the nod in goal, which likely sets up Mackenzie Blackwood for Sunday’s battle against the Minnesota Wild on the road. Wedgewood is 14-1-3 on the year and is one win away from tying Karel Vejmelka and Jake Oettinger for the most in the NHL.

There won’t be any other changes in the lineup from the victory in Seattle on Tuesday.

As for the Jets, life without Nikolaj Ehlers has hurt this team more than they probably thought it would. The Jets seem slower, less creative, and more vulernable without the scoring winger, who departed as a free agent last July.

The Jets are 22nd in the league in goals and, aside from their top line, aren’t getting much offense from the rest of the lineup. Mark Scheifele (16), Gabriel Vilardi (16), and Kyle Connor (15) have accounted for 48% of their goals. Their next highest scorer has just six goals.

Winnipeg has given up just five goals in the three games since Hellebuyck returned from an injury, but the team is just 1-1-1 because the offense can’t score.

Jonathan Toews also faces the Avs for the first time since January 2023. Coming off a lengthy departure from the league, his first year in Winnipeg hasn’t gone that well. He has just three goals and nine points in 33 games and has a team-worst -13 rating. Even his defensive numbers have fallen off.

Because of an early-season injury to team captain Adam Lowry, Toews has been forced to play a larger role and heavier minutes than coach Scott Arniel likely had planned for him.

The Avs were reportedly the runner-up to sign Toews back in June, as they likely were penciling him in for a third-line center role.

Hellebuyck will start for Winnipeg.