Do they games get bigger than this for the Winnipeg Jets? Yes because basically every game from now until the end of the season will have playoff implications for the Winnipeg Jets on their scoreboard and the out-of-town ones too. Tonight has the obvious 2 point swing for the Jets should they be able to beat St. Louis at home, but if Minnesota and Calgary lose the bottom of the west looks like this:
Wild- 85 Jets- 84 --------- Flames 81 Sharks 76
All of whom played in 71 games each.
The stakes are pretty high for the Jets.
If they lose and the Flames and Wild win this is the scenario:
Wild-87 Flames-83 ----------- Jets 82
The other troubling part is that the Jets are not in good shape if they tie with the Flames as Regulation Wins are the tie breaker and there is a huge spread 34 for Calgary and 29 for Winnipeg.
This game is just the beginning or the continuation of the old cliche "win and you're in". With everything being so tight in the bottom of the west and the 11 games left there may be no more room for stories than hot take cliches.
Tonight Pavelec comes in the start in his third consecutive appearance since the win over Tampa Bay. Is it a chance for redemption after the horrid late 3rd period goal in St. Louis from last week or just faith in a guy who has played well for two games? It would be hard not to play him after Tuesday and the Saturday game in Tampa but in reality maybe that's all he should play.
Once again the Jets find themselves in the similar situation as previous seasons with their goalie tandem, neither quite ready and or able to run the table and take full control of the starter job. That might be okay if the coach and fans accept it and realize it may not be permanent for this year and seasons to come.
Put differently what if the combined efforts of the two are the strength not reliance on one over the other, especially now that Hutch is regressing back to reality. Something everyone outside of Minnesota and Ottawa are hoping happens to Hammond and Dubnyk.
The rumoured return of Dustin Byfuglien has been delayed- coach Paul Maurice explained that it would be against Capitals on weekend for the earliest return of the big defender but road trip after more likely. This is a case of being careful and cautious as Buff's value is him being able to play the game the way he wants to and this season that comes with a lot of impact.
The Blues are at the top of the class in the western conference and the Jets are still trying to get there. That's the basic reality for these teams but it does not change the fact that they play each other tight and hard with most games being rather entertaining. The question for Jets fans is probably this: which team comes out-the one versus St. Louis from last week or the one versus the Sharks from Tuesday?
We all know which one we'd prefer but we'll still have to wait and see.