The Bruins did the Jets a huge favour today as they beat the Predators 5-2. The Jets will still have a game in hand on the Preds after tonight but have the possibility of a 4 point lead heading into the short Christmas break.
The Canucks though are not a pushover team, they are better than they should be and probably better than the management wants them to be and that makes them dangerous. The achilles heel for Vancouver though is the defense and goaltending and fast and skilled Jets have to go back to their shot generation strength point.
One thing that is always a topic with the Jets is the roster regardless of injury and it appears that the Jets will have Nic Petan in the lineup and Ken Wiebe reported that Paul Maurice predicts the same line up as the one that played in San Jose.
If you recall the last time these teams faced each other Partrik Laine had his hat trick and started his insane run of goal scoring. What the difference was then is he got involved in the rush and play starting in his own zone perhaps he can have another jump start of scoring again.
I saw this on Twitter this morning and it's a pretty fascinating stat and the credit needs to go to the tweeter so take a look:
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this. With every other team in the central playing .500 hockey or worse the @NHLJets have gained a collective 40 points against the rest of the central over the last 10 games. (+5 over Preds, +7 over Avs, etc.) #GoJetsGo pic.twitter.com/VELuzZiUsQ
— NHL Jets 2.0 (@NHLJets2point0) December 22, 2018
If you want to know how the Canucks have been they are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and coming off a 5-1 win over St. Louis. This is a better team than most give them credit for being and it's one of those games that causes some nervousness. The Jets are finished for 4 days after this and then pick up against Calgary after and with Christmas on the horizon will the team be looking past the Canucks and more to the flight home?
Here are a few charts to grade how the Jets stack up to the opposition tonight:
Expected Goal Differential
Corsi Differential
Shot Rate
Shot rate against
PDO
So yes the Jets are the better team but anything can happen in a game and lately with the Jets whether on the road or at home it usually does as this group rarely makes it easy on themselves yet they still keep winning. Most fans want the Jets to start locking things down and that might happen but I doubt it does tonight as I'd expect more of the same fire wagon hockey and winning late to happen.